GIFT  OF 
Mrs.   Gladys   Isaacson 


JUDAISM 
CHRISTIANITY 


AND  THE 


MODERN  SOCIAL 
IDEALS 


BY 
G.  GEORGE  FOX 

TEMPLE  BETH  EL 


1919 

MONITOR  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 
FORT  WORTH,  TEXAS 


COPYRIGHT    1918 

BY 

THE    MONITOR    PRESS 

FORT  WORTH 

TEXAS 


"W,,  3K]ftJ 

ftjfeisufaHfe 

*•».*•*  .^ » ''..  *  >  *  A  .1 ,  * 


DEDICATED 

TO   MY   PARENTS   WHOSE   SACRIFICES,  AND 
TO   MY  WIFE   WHOSE   DEVOTION,   EXEM- 
PLIFY SOME  OF  THE  IDEALS  SET 
FORTH  IN  THIS  WORK 


M18310 


PREFACE 

Within  the  last  quarter  of  a  century  a 
large  number  of  books  has  been  written 
dealing  with  the  life  of  Jesus,  his  ethics  and 
their  relation  to  our  social  ideals.  Here  in 
America,  works  of  which  the  "Social  Teach- 
ings of  Jesus,"  and  "Christianity  and  the 
Changing  Order,"  by  Prof.  Shailer  Mathews ; 
"Christianity  and  the  Social  Crisis," 
by  Prof.  Rauschenbusch,  and  "Jesus  Christ 
and  the  Moral  Question,"  by  Prof.  Peabody, 
are  the  best  types,  have  rightly  shifted  the 
emphasis  of  Christianity  from  the  dogmatic 
to  the  social  and  ethical  side.  In  his  "Social 
Teachings,"  Prof.  Mathews  has  sounded  the 
proper  note,  for  in  these  days,  religion  must 
be  socialized  to  be  vital. 

But  from  a  perusal  of  this  literature,  one 
is  made  to  feel  that  Christianity  alone  is  to 
be  credited  with  the  best  of  our  social  ideals. 
One  cannot  find  fault  with  Christian  scholars 
for  their  magnificent  allegiance  to  what  they 
believe  to  be  the  ideals  of  their  Master.  But 
one  looks  in  vain  for  an  adequate  evaluation 
of  the  tremendous  influence  of  Judaism  upon 
both  the  ancient  and  the  modern  life.  Surely 
the  Jewishness  of  Jesus  himself  played  some 
part  in  the  growth  and  development  of  our 
present  day  social  ideals ! 


8  JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

The  following  pages  have  been  written  be- 
cause the  writer  believes  that  Judaism  has 
been  overlooked  in  the  consideration  of  those 
forces  which  influence  and  refine  modern  life. 
He  believes  that  most  of  the  teachings  of 
Jesus  are  as  Jewish  as  those  of  any  well- 
known  teacher  of  the  post-biblical  writings. 
He  believes  that  our  present  day  social  ideals 
are  Jewish,  and  that  many  would  agree  with 
him  if  the  information  to  substantiate  this 
were  at  hand. 

No  one  can  deny  that  there  is  need  for  an 
exposition  of  the  Jewish  teachings  and  their 
relation  to  those  of  Jesus.  Men  are  desirous 
to  learn  and  a  spirit  of  fair-mindedness  is 
abroad.  Works  of  this  sort  abound  in  Europe, 
in  America  they  are  extremely  scarce.  The 
ideals  of  Jesus,  however,  have  found  exposi- 
tion in  many  volumes ;  to  compare  the  Jewish 
ideals  with  these,  and  to  answer  too,  the  ques- 
tion of  the  attitude  of  liberal  Jews  towards 
their  ancient  co-religionist — a  question  asked 
many  times  of  the  writer — is  the  task  of  this 
work. 

That  these  pages  may  to  some  extent  clear 
up  the  misunderstanding  with  regard  to  an- 
cient Judaism  and  its  influence  on  modern 
life,  is  the  fervent  hope  of  the  writer. 

I  desire  to  express  my  thanks  here  to  the 
late  Prof.  George  Burman  Foster  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Chicago,  and  to  Dr.  Louis  Gross- 
man of  the  Hebrew  Union  Teachers'  College, 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS  » 

Cincinnati,  for  reading  the  manuscript  of  this 
work,  and  for  the  encouragement  which  they 
gave  me;  to  my  friend  and  colleague,  Rabbi 
David  Rosenbaum  of  the  Austin  Temple  and 
the  University  of  Texas,  for  his  painstaking 
assistance  and  for  his  suggestions;  and  to 
Miss  Ethel  Fox  for  assistance  in  preparing 
the  manuscript  for  the  press. 

G.  G.  F. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 


Page 

Preface  7 

Chapter  I       The  New  Testament  Sources 13 

Chapter  II      Post-Biblical  Jewish  Ideals 47 

Chapter  III    Apocryphal  and  Pseudepigraphic 

Ideals   79 

Chapter  IV     The  Jewish  Ideals  and  the  New 

Testament   118 

The  Fatherhood  of  God 122 

The   Brotherhood   of   Man 

and  Brotherly  Love 138 

Social    Justice 157 

Individual  Righteousness 179 

Charity 204 

Peace 211 

Chapter  V       The  Attitude  of  Liberal  Jews  To- 
wards Jesus 226 

Abbreviations  265 

Notes    267 

Index  .  ..281 


JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY 

AND 

THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS 


CHAPTER  I. 

The  New  Testament  Sources 

The  works  mentioned  in  the  introductory 
remarks,  and  their  kind,  are  the  results  of 
the  studies  of  some  who  believe  that  the  pres- 
ent day  social  ideals  have  their  source  almost 
wholly  in  the  New  Testament,  and  in  tfie 
teachings  of  the  Man  of  Nazareth.  These 
books  deal  in  the  main  with  the  social  teach- 
ings of  this  leader  whom  their  authors  regard 
as  the  greatest  teacher  of  mankind.  They  see 
him  as  the  ideal,  divine  man,  and  by  project- 
ing his  life  into  our  own  times,  they  hold  it  up 
as  a  standard  so  perfect  that  if  imitated  by 
all,  there  could  be  no  room  for  the  social  in- 
equalities which  spring  up  through  human 
shortcomings  and  human  wickedness.  Their 
knowledge  of  the  life  and  deeds  of  Jesus  they 
obtain  Wholly  from  the  New  Testament  writ- 
ings or  from  sources  even  later.  The  gospels 


14  JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

in  particular  form  the  sources  upon  which 
the  life  of  Jesus  is  constructed. 

In  the  following  chapters  we  shall  not  at- 
tempt to  deny  to  Christianity  any  influence 
that  rightly  came  from  it.  But  we  are  not 
ready  to  admit  that  the  modern  social  ideals 
are  the  fruits  of  the  New  Testament,  and  are 
the  sole  and  original  contributions  of  Jesus. 
Nor  will  we  agree  that  the  New  Testament 
writings  form  an  historical  source  reliable 
and  authoritative  enough  to  create  either  for 
Jesus  or  against  Judaism  certain  assumptions 
which  many  non-Jewish  scholars  are  in  the 
habit  of  making.  We  believe  that  the  modern 
social  ideals  are  the  fruitage  of  other  and 
stronger  forces  of  which  Jesus  was  only  a 
part,  and  we  shall  endeavor  to  show  that  the 
ethics  of  this  teacher  were  part  and  parcel  of 
Jewish  thought  and  life  previous  to,  contem- 
porary with,  and  subsequent  to,  his  days,  be- 
cause there  was  a  continuity  in  Judaism  after 
the  early  Biblical  and  post-Biblical  contribu- 
tions, which  was  not  influenced  at  all  by  early 
Christianity.  There  was  from  the  days  of 
Israel's  earliest  teachers  a  continuous  stream 
of  ethical  thought  and  teaching,  and  of  this 
Jesus  drank  deep.  He  was  a  child  of  his  day,1 
a  Jew  of  his  time,2  and  a  preacher  of  a  com- 
mon type  of  Judaism  of  his  time.  To  confirm 
this  statement,  we  shall  bring  forth  evidence 
not  only  from  the  Biblical  sources,  but  from 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS  16 

the  teachings  and  the  traditions  which  were 
common  before  and  after  the  advent  of  the 
daughter  religion,  and  which  now  form  that 
important  literature  known  as  the  Apocry- 
pha, Pseudepigrapha,  Misnah,  Midrash,  and 
Talmud.  And  we  shall  in  the  closing  chap- 
ter attempt  to  sum  up  the  reasons  why  Jews, 
acquainted  with  their  history,  their  litera- 
ture and  their  religion,  cannot  accept  Jesus 
either  as  Messiah,  Redeemer  and  Savior,  or 
as  the  Perfect  and  Sinless  Man  of  history. 

In  citing  the  teachings  of  Jesus  as  histori- 
cal and  authoritative  one  ought  to  be  careful 
not  to  overlook  a  very  important  factor.  If, 
for  instance,  we  want  to  know  what  Wash- 
ington said  in  his  farewell  address,  or  what 
Lincoln  said  in  his  Gettysburg  speech,  we 
need  not  ask  any  one  or  put  any  faith  in 
hearsay  evidence.  We  need  only  to  refer  to 
an  authentic  edition  of  their  works.  These 
have  been  carefully  and  authoritatively  edit- 
ed and  therefore  are  reliably  historical 
sources  of  what  these  leaders  said  and  did. 
The  rules  of  conduct  of  George  Washington 
have  their  value  as  a  character-building 
agency  at  a  certain  period  in  a  child's  life. 
If  men  desire  to  verify  these,  reference  to 
his  written  works  will  set  them  aright. 
The  same  is  true  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 
Many  a  legend  has  been  spun  by  his  former 
neighbors  and  fellow-citizens.  Stories  of 
what  he  believed  and  how  he  practiced  Law, 


16  JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

have  had  their  rounds.  Some  of  the  things 
heard  about  him  seemed  altogether  true, 
until  reference  to  his  biography  and  writ- 
ings proved  them  mythical.  But  the  matter 
to  consider  here  is  that  when  a  controversy 
arises  as  to  what  Lincoln  did  say  and  what 
he  did  do,  a  study  of  any  of  the  excellent  bi- 
ographies will  give  us  ample  and  certain 
data.  This  is  true  of  other  men  who  have  left 
their  impress  upon  the  world.  Not  all  they 
said  and  did  is  published.  But  the  important 
contributions  of  their  lives — those  which  in- 
fluenced generations  and  times,  can  be  found 
by  those  who  look  for  them,  and  they  are  re- 
corded in  indisputable  records.  Sometimes 
partisan  bitterness  and  sectional  prejudices 
blind  writers  to  the  virtues  and  magnify  the 
vices  of  those  about  whom  they  write.  But 
time  corrects  such  injustices  and  after  the 
heat  of  partisan  struggles  cools  down  and 
dispassionate  judgment  obtains,  the  truth  is 
seen  and  thus  recorded.  The  great  princi- 
ples of  America's  early  leaders  are  thus 
known  because  of  authoritative  transmis- 
sion; but  it  is  just  the  lack  of  authoritative 
transmission  that  makes  the  alleged  produc- 
tions of  the  world's  early  teachers  historical- 
ly questionable.  Much  that  we  have  may 
have  been  the  instruction  of  great  teachers ; 
but  much  that  we  have  under  their  names, 
was  given  in  their  names.  And  this  distinc- 
tion is  a  very  important  one. 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS  17 

In  considering  the  precepts  and  teachings 
of  Jesus,  we  must  not  forget  that  he  himself 
did3  not*  write6  one  word  or  syllable  of  that 
Which  now  we  call  the  New  Testament.  We 
can  go  much  further  and  say  that  there  are 
many  great  Biblical  scholars  who  deny  that 
even  the  apostles  wrote  what  is  purported 
in  the  New  Testament  books  and  their  con- 
temporary writings  to  have  come  either  from 
his  mouth  or  theirs.  The  greatest  of  all  of 
Jesus'  followers,  Paul,  not  only  did  not  know 
him,  but  did  not  become  a  follower  of  the 
Jesus  cult  until  after  the  death  of  Jesus.  As 
it  was  then  not  the  custom  to  write  down  the 
teachings  and  discourses,  except  in  the  cases 
of  a  few  rabbinical  teachers,  Jesus  himself 
never  wrote  down,  nor  did  his  immediate  dis- 
ciples write,  what  he  said  and  taught.  This 
was  transmitted  orally  to  his  followers.  The 
different  ways  in  which  'his  words  could 
have  been  understood  and  in  which  they  af- 
fected his  hearers,  men  and  women  of  vari- 
ous shades  of  thought  and  education,  and 
from  various  surroundings,  can  be  in  a  larg-e 
measure  judged  from  the  varying  opinions 
expressed  by  a  crowd  which  hears  a  lecture 
or  sermon  and  yet  has  a  number  of  different 
interpretations.  It  has  been  the  lot  of  many 
a  preacher  to  have  to  refer  to  his  written 
manuscript  in  order  to  correct  a  false  im- 
pression upon  an  auditor.  One  who  has  his 
eyes  open  to  the  experience  of  everyday  life 


18  JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

need  not  be  told  how  oral  statements  are 
kneaded,  molded  and  changed  by  individual 
experience,  until  they  are  hardly  recognized 
by  him  who  originally  uttered  them.  The 
thoughts  thrown  out  to  us  by  others  are  af- 
fected by  our  personal  experience  in  the  same 
manner  that  white  light  seen  through  col- 
ored lenses  is  affected  by  the  coloring  of  the 
glass.  Just  as  the  light  colored  by  the  lens 
is  no  longer  the  white  light,  but  the  colored, 
so  someone  else's  idea  heard  by  us  may  no 
longer  be  his,  but  our  idea  of  his  idea.  This 
process  of  change  through  transmission  is  a 
very  important  element  in  the  evaluation  of 
the  teachings  of  Jesus,  especially  so  since 
there  are  so  many  contradictions  and  incon- 
sistencies in  the  records  that  we  have  of 
them.  Indeed  many  have  thought  that  the 
New  Testament  points  to  at  least  two  per- 
sonalities by  that  name. 

One  would  have  to  give  an  exposition  of 
the  content  of  the  New  Testament  in  order 
to  bring  out  fully  what  is  said  above.  It  is 
'hardly  the  province  of  these  pages  to  do 
that;  yet  a  short  sketch  of  the  writings 
themselves  giving  briefly  their  content,  au- 
thorship and  date  are  necessary  to  bring  out 
our  contention.  We  believe  that  a  very  short 
summary  will  not  be  amiss. 

It  will  not  be  out  of  place  to  repeat  that 
neither  Jesus7  nor  any  of  the  apostles8  ever 
wrote  any  of  the  works  treasured  by  the 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS  19 

church.  This  is  the  verdict  of  the  greatest 
New  Testament  scholars,  and  While  it  is 
known  within  the  student  circles,  it  is  not 
known  among  the  world  at  large,  nor  will  it 
be  so  easily  believed. 

Jesus  died  in  the  year  30  of  the  present 
era,  and  the  early  New  Testament  records 
did  not  assume  a  canonical  or  privileged 
form  until  the  second  half  of  the  second  cen- 
tury. This  ought  not  to  be  lost  sight  of.  The 
writings  now  included  in  what  is  called  the 
New  Testament,  a  term  by  the  way,  which 
did  not  come  into  use  until  long  after  the 
writings  had  been  collected,  were  the  works 
of  early  Jewish-Christian  teachers,  and  were 
certainly  never  intended  to  be  unique  in 
character  or  inspired.  They  were  written 
for  the  purpose  of  instruction,  encourage- 
ment, historical  knowledge  and  help  in  the 
ecclesiastical  controversies,  and  were  gradu- 
ally collected  as  the  church  grew  in  numbers 
and  influence,  and  began  to  feel  the  need  of 
a  historical  basis  and  an  authoritative  tradi- 
tion. The  influence  of  the  Old  Testament  at 
that  time  must  not  be  overlooked.  As  long  as 
there  were  differences  between  the  Jews  and 
the  Christians;  as  long  as  Judaism  had  an 
authoritative  source  to  which  to  refer;  as  long 
as  the  question  of  the  Messiahship  was  in 
dispute,  and  as  long  as  the  earlier  Christians 
based  the  Messianic  pretensions  of  Jesus 
upon  the  Old  Testament  prophesies,  so  long 


20  JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

was  there  necessity  for  a  collection  of  au- 
thoritative writings;  and  when  such  a  col- 
lection once  was  vested  with  authority,  the 
church  traditions  continued  and  enhanced  it, 
although  the  writers  of  these  documents, 
just  like  the  writers  of  some  of  the  Old 
Testament  books,  never  knew  what  the  fate 
of  their  productions  would  be.  And  as  the 
church  developed,  the  collection  grew  in  im- 
portance until  at  the  time  of  the  first  church 
councils,  it  included  a  number  of  books,  and 
was  decisively  stamped  as  the  Revealed 
Word  of  God  to  the  Church. 

If  one  judged  the  New  Testament  by  the 
attitude  displayed  towards  it  by  the  greater 
part  of  Christendom,  one  would  expect  to 
find  a  work  of  unity  of  purpose,  unity  of  tra- 
dition, and  agreement  of  historical  incidents. 
We  expect  a  revelation  to  be  absolute;  and 
we  should  have  a  right  to  expect  that  a  work 
which  'has  been  held  up  as  the  Revealed 
Word,  would  not  contain  contradictions,  an- 
tagonistic points  of  view,  and  unauthenticat- 
ed  superscriptions.  The  Christian  world  can 
easily  believe  that  the  authority  of  the  Old 
Testament  and  its  claim  to  Revelation  were 
undermined  when  the  higher  criticism  point- 
ed out  the  utter  lack  of  its  unity,  the  imposs- 
ibility of  much  of  its  alleged  authorship,  and 
its  overwhelming  diversity  of  thought,  lan- 
guage, style  and  points  of  view.  But  when  the 
higher  criticism  found  exactly  the  same  de- 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS  21 

:   '   !|    .   -     -  ;       - 

f ects  in  the  New  Testament  by  applying  the 
same  canons  of  criticism,  the  point  of  view 
with  regard  to  it  did  not  change  materially, 
and  in  the  minds  of  those  who  easily  and  sat  • 
isfiedjy  accept  the  results  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment criticism,  those  of  the  New,  find  no 
lodgment. 

10It  will  perhaps  shock  the  average  reader 
to  know  that  there  are  seven  different  ar- 
rangements of  the  New  Testament  Canon 
known  to  criticism.  There  are  even  seven 
different  arrangements  of  the  gospels  them- 
selves. John  is  first  in  many  versions.  No 
one  has  yet  succeeded  in  discovering  just 
why  the  gospels  are  arranged  in  their  pres- 
ent order,  though  many  reasons  have  been 
advanced.  Here  a  sentence  may  be  quoted 
from  the  foremost  English  New  Testament 
scholar:  "The  division  and  arrangement  of 
the  gospels  thus  appear  to  have  been  deter- 
mined partly  on  chronological  grounds,  part- 
ly from  considerations  of  internal  value  and 
even  size,  partly  from  ecclesiastical  ideas  of 
the  author's  rank  and  partly  from  arbitrary 
fancies,  or,  at  any  rate,  from  what  seem  ar- 
bitrary and  unintelligible  to  a  modern."11  It 
is  not  a  salutary  commentary  on  some  mod- 
erns who  accept  as  divine  and  absolute  that 
which  to  the  best  trained  minds  in  that  par- 
ticular field  appears  "arbitrary  and  unintelli- 
gible." 

The  amazing  credulity  which  character- 


22  JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

izes  the  modern  preacher  who  walks  up  and 
down  his  pulpit  and  shouts  in  &  fit  of  ecstatic 
devotion,  "I  believe  this  Holy  Book  from 
cover  to  cover,"  can  be  judged  only  by  those 
who  know  something  of  the  diversity  of  the 
sources  and  the  accounts  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment. That  faith  must  indeed  be  deep  which 
will  put  implicit  trust  into  a  work  of  some 
twenty-seven  parts,  not  one  of  which  is  def- 
initely known  to  be  historical  and  authorita- 
tive. The  very  earliest  fragments  have  not 
even  come  down  whole,  and  there  are  repre- 
sented in  the  writings  of  the  New  Testament 
something  like  twenty  other  works  or 
sources.  This  is  the  verdict  not  of  Jewish 
scholarship,  but  of  Christian  research.12 
Would  the  logic  of  the  matter  not  demand 
that  every  source  from  which  a  sentence  in 
the  New  Testament  is  taken  should  likewise 
be  a  revelation  from  the  Most  High?  And 
would  this  not  then  be  true  also  of  the  works 
like  the  Wisdom  of  Solomon,  the  Book  of  Ben 
Sirach,  The  Testaments  of  the  Twelve  Patri- 
archs, the  Book  of  Enoch,  or  others  which 
not  only  contain  ideas  and  teachings  no  less 
beautiful  and  no  less  exalted  than  many  of 
those  of  the  New  Testament,  but  which  are 
among  its  very  sources?  Is  it  generally 
known  that  the  writers  of  different  parts  of 
the  newer  canon  knew  and  used  expressions, 
thoughts  and  teachings  not  only  from  the 
books  just  mentioned,  but  also  from  the  As- 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS  23 

cension  of  Isaiah,  Book  of  Jubilees,  Apoc- 
alypse of  Baruch,  Assumption  of  Moses, 
Book  of  Eldad  and  Medad,  Testament  of  Job, 
Tobit,  Judith,  Second  Maccabees,  the  sup- 
posed Apocalypse  of  Jeremiah,  the  Ahikar 
traditions,  the  works  of  Philo,  Josephus,  and 
another  work  that  has  been  identified  as  the 
Flakes  of  Ecclesiasticus  ?  The  content  of  the 
New  Testament  does  not  lose  in  value  be- 
cause it  is  a  collection  of  ideas,  some  of  which 
are  original  and  some  of  which  had  already 
found  expression  elsewhere;  but  the  theory 
of  their  divine  inspiraton  does,  and  the  time 
has  come  when  every  thoughtful  person 
ought  to  know  and  consider  the  Bible  in  the 
light  of  its  historical  and  literary  develop- 
ment. In  these  days,  they  who  presume  ta 
lead  ought  not  to  be  satisfied  with  knowing 
merely  the  contents  of  the  Book ;  they  ought 
to  know  the  contents  in  their  relation  to  their 
sources,  growth,  and  contemporary  litera- 
ture. We  ought  to  know  something  of  the 
manner  in  which  these  writings  were  com- 
posed and  evolved ;  we  ought  to  know  the  cir- 
cumstances under  which  they  were  written, 
and  the  objects  which  brought  them  forth. 
We  ought  to  know  that  the  early  Christians 
and  the  Jews,  too,  had  no  hesitancy  in  alter- 
ing Biblical  texts,  especially  those  from  the 
Septuagint,  to  suit  their  purposes,  and  that 
often  the  Hebrew  was  peculiarly  collocated 
and  changed  in  order  to  fit  the  point  in  contro- 


24  JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

versy.  There  is  abundant  evidence  that  the 
copyists  did  not  hesitate  not  only  to  add  la- 
ter details  which  they  thought  important  for 
their  purposes,  but  also  to  delete  such  matter 
as  they  deemed  harmful  to  their  cause.  Tra- 
ditions were  reworked  and  re-edited  and  in- 
terpolations and  expansions  were  common. 
"Tracts  and  letters  were  written  in  the 
names  of  apostles  to  give  them  authority, 
and  as  early  as  ithe  second  half  of  the  second 
century  the  authenticity  of  the  then  New 
Testament  writings  was  so  much  in  doubt 
that  Marcion,  a  Christian  of  that  day,  was 
accused  of  falsifying  the  gospel.  A  number 
of  copies  of  the  gospels  existed,  but  there 
was  widespread  diversity  among  them. 

In  view  of  this  looseness  and  lack  of  uni- 
formity, it  would  perhaps  not  be  out  of  place 
to  run  hastily  over  the  books  of  the  New  Tes- 
tament and  see  what  results  their  study  have 
brought  forth  with  regard  to  the  time  of  their 
probable  composition,  their  content,  and 
their  purpose.  There  is  no  unanimity  of  opin- 
ion among  scholars,  and  there  is  little  likeli- 
hood that  there  ever  will  be.  The  results 
that  follow  will  be  bitterly  disappointing  to 
those  who  have  been  accustomed  to  regard 
the  canon  as  something  of  a  finished  product 
given  by  the  Almighty  to  the  founders  and 
early  expositors  of  the  newer  faith. 

Although  the  letters  of  Paul  are  in  reality 
the  earlier  and  more  authoritative  of  the 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS  25 

fragments  of  that  literature  which  later  be- 
came the  New  Testament,  the  gospels,  or  the 
writings  based  on  the  sayings  and  tradi- 
tional doings  of  Jesus  occupy  the  first  place 
in  the  canon.  The  reason  for  this  is,  of 
course,  the  importance  of  Jesus.  We  will 
here  take  the  books  in  their  present  canon- 
ical order  and  show  briefly  what  modern  re- 
search has  to  tell  us  about  their  develop- 
ment, time  of  composition,  and  their  authen- 
ticity. 

A  few  words  of  general  character  ought  to 
be  said  about  the  Synoptic  Gospels,  or  those 
which  give  a  similar  synopsis  of  the  life  of 
Jesus,  that  is,  the  first  three  gospels  of  the 
New  Testament.  These  are  all  works  com- 
piled from  other  sources.  Not  one  is  an  orig- 
inal document  which  records  or  transcribes 
the  words  or  teachings  of  Jesus  or  the  apos- 
tles. Matthew  and  Luke  are  believed  to  have 
had  Mark  as  a  basis,  though  this  has  not  yet 
been  accepted  by  all  scholars.  Some  scholars 
say  that  there  was  an  original  oral  gospel 
that  became  the  basis  for  the  later  gospels, 
but  this  is  opposed  on  the  grounds  of  the  va- 
riations in  the  gospels  which  cannot  be  ac- 
counted for. 

There  is  a  difference  of  opinion  as  to 
whether  the  first  gospel  was  written  in  He- 
brew or  Aramaic.  Some  think  that  Mark 
wrote  his  gospel  from  an  Aramaic  source  and 
that  Luke  then  used  both  the  source  and 


26  JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

Mark.  Matthew,  they  believe,  was  then  later 
written,  combining  Luke  and  Mark  as  a  gos- 
pel for  the  Jews,  while  the  earlier  ones  circu- 
lated among  the  non-Jewish  Christians. 
There  are  some  who  say  that  there  was  an 
original  Hebrew  Matthew  even  before  Mark, 
and  that  the  present  gospel  of  that  name  was 
based  upon  the  gospel  of  Mark,  which  had 
earlier  been  based  upon  this  original  Hebrew 
Matthew.  The  uncertainty  of  the  succession 
of  these  traditions  is  due  largely  to  the  fact 
that  the  early  Christian  sources  were  dealt 
with  in  a  careless  manner  by  later  writers, — 
careless  from  our  historical  point  of  view; 
there  was  not  that  reverence  for  authorship 
that  we  have,  and  tampering  had  become  a 
literary  'habit.  Says  Dr.  Moffat:  "The 
earliest  traditions  extant  upon  the  origin  of 
the  gospels,  i.  e.,  the  fragmentary  remarks 
of  John  the  Presbyter  quoted  from  Papias," 
the  Bishop  of  Hierapolis  in  Phrygia,  who 
lived  in  the  first  half  of  the  second  century, 
by  Eusebius,  the  first  great  church  histor- 
ian, who  was  born  about  260,  "show  that  no 
stereotyped  official  gospel  was  known  to  the 
memory  of  the  sub-apostolic  age.  The  first 
shapes  which  loom  out  of  the  mist  are  two 
documents  roughly  corresponding  to  the  gos- 
pels of  Mark  and  Matthew."  Perhaps  a  quo- 
tation from  Papias  regarding  the  account  of 
Mark,  may  be  interesting:  ""Mark,  who 
was  Peter's  interpreter,  wrote  down  accur- 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS  27 

ately,  though  not  in  order,  all  that  he  REC- 
OLLECTED of  What  Christ  had  said  or  done. 
For  he  was  not  a  hearer  of  his  Lord  nor  a 
follower  of  his ;  he  followed  Peter,  as  I  have 
said,  -at  a  later  date  and  Peter  adapted  his 
instructions  to  practical  needs  without  any 
attempt  to  give  the  Lord's  words  systematic- 
ally. So  that  Mark  was  not  wrong  in  writ- 
ing down  some  things  in  this  way  from  mem- 
ory, for  his  one  concern  was  neither  to  omit 
nor  to  falsify  anything  he  had  heard." 
About  Matthew,  Papias  says :  "So  then  Mat- 
thew composed  the  Logia  in  the  Hebrew  lan- 
guage, and  every  one  interpreted  them  as  he 
was  able."  It  seems  to  us  that  it  would  be 
straining  a  good  deal  to  ask  people  to  believe 
in  a  document,  the  author  of  which  we  would 
be  told  was,  say,  Lincoln,  but  which  was  not 
written  until  thirty-five  to  fifty  years  after 
his  death,  and  written  by  one  who  was  not  a 
follower  of  his,  nor  -a  hearer,  but  who  heard 
what  he  wrote  from  another  who  followed 
Lincoln  at  an  earlier  date.  Hard  to  believe  as 
this  would  be  of  a  recent  work,  how  much 
more  difficult  is  it  to  put  faith  in  the  authen- 
ticity of  documents  written  nearly  1800 
years  ago,  and  based  on  hearsay.  If  the 
ancients  did  not  use  any  historical  sense,  it 
was  because  they  did  not  have  it;  but  we 
have  it ;  it  hardly  becomes  us  not  to  use  it. 

Modern  criticism  has  reached  the  conclu- 
sion that  the  synoptic  gospels  are  based  upon 


28  JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

two  probable  original  sources,  the  Ur-Mar- 
cus,  or  the  source  upon  which  the  gospel  of 
Mark  is  thought  to  have  been  based,  and  the 
"Q,  or  the  source  which  was  the  work  of  a 
Jewish  Christian  who  based  his  record  not 
only  upon  that  of  Mark  but  also  upon  what  is 
known  as  the  Matthean  Logia.  Luke,  on  the 
other  hand,  uses  not  only  the  Ur-Marcus  and 
the  Q,  but  also  other  sources  Which  he 
thought  were  for  his  purpose  as  authoritative 
and  as  important  as  these  two.  Both  Luke 
and  Matthew  omit  material  which  Mark 
contains,  and  this  leads  many  critics  to  be- 
lieve that  the  Mark  of  the  present  canon  is 
a  smaller  book  than  was  the  original  after 
which  the  other  gospels  were  planned.  Is  it 
not  strange  that  after  the  conflicting  testi- 
mony of  the  greatest  biblical  scholars  and 
critics ;  after  the  dearth  of  literature  which 
could  throw  some  light  and  thus  enable  us 
to  reach  certain  conclusions  about  these 
books ;  after  the  utter  inability  to  prove  with 
a  moderate  degree  of  'historical  evidence  the 
authenticity  of  the  various  books  of  the 
canon,  millions  still  believe,  and  other  mil- 
lions are  asked  to  believe,  in  the  absolute 
truth  and  historicity  of  the  Book  and  the 
characters  in  it?  Is  it  not  just  a  bit  pre- 
sumptious  to  ask  men  of  the  twentieth  cen- 
tury to  believe  this,  when  contemporary  acts 
and  records  or  those  within  recent  centuries 
are  subject  to  the  closest  historical  scrutiny? 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS  29 

16The  Gospel  of  Matthew,  the  first  in  the 
present  canon,  is  so  called,  not  from  the  fact 
that  the  apostle  by  that  name  wrote  it,  for 
he  did  not ;  the  book  probably  takes  its  name 
from  the  fact  that  it  contains  more  of  the 
original  Mathean  sayings.  This  gospel,  in 
spite  of  its  anti-Pharisaic  outbursts,  is  more 
Jewish  than  any  of  the  others  and  shows 
every  evidence  of  having  been  written  by  a 
Jewish-Christian.  Whether  or  not  the  present 
work  is  a  translation  from  a  Hebrew  or  an 
Aramaic  document,  is  not  known;  but  its 
tone  is  much  more  sympathetic  and  its  atti- 
tude much  more  friendly  than  any  of  the 
other  gospels.  The  earliest  date  for  the  com- 
position of  Matthew  is  given  as  about  forty 
years  after  the  death  of  Jesus ;  in  its  present 
form  the  date  has  been  placed  between  75 
and  90,  but  many  place  it  later,  and  some  as 
late  as  140.  There  is  no  agreement  as  to  the 
date.  Is  it  likely  that  the  teachings  of  Jesus 
remained  intact,  and  that  they  have  not 
been  changed,  especially  when  we  realize  that 
the  present  gospel  is  the  work  of  editors  who 
rewrote  the  supposed  original  Mathean  Logia 
several  times  after  years  of  transmission  by 
word  of  mouth? 

It  will  perhaps  be  of  interest  to  know  that 
at  least  two  layers  of  tradition,  and  probably 
three,  can  be  found  in  this  gospel,  viz:  The 
Jewish,  the  Jewish-Christian,  and  the  anti- 
Jewish.  The  earliest  passages,  i.  e.,  the  Jew- 


30  JUDAISM,  CHKISTIANITY  AND 

ish,  are  doubtless  the  ones  which  are  nearest 
to  the  sentiments  uttered  by  Jesus ;  the  Jew- 
ish-Christian passages  are  those  Which  form- 
ed the  bulk  of  the  Q  source,  while  the  dis- 
tinctively anti-Jewish  passages  are  the  work 
of  the  later  or  latest  editors,  who,  influenced 
against  Jews  and  Judaism,  gave  vent  to  his 
or  their  feelings  in  the  final  edition  which 
has  come  down  to  us;  certainly  Jesus  him- 
self has  never  given  any  evidence  of  antag- 
onism to  Jews;  for  the  "lost  sheep  of  the 
House  of  Israel"  must  have  been  dear  to  him ; 
it  was  for  them  that  he  came  to  "fulfill  the 
law,  not  to  destroy  it."  It  was  only  in  the 
years  of  the  strife  between  Judaism  and 
growing  Christianity  that  that  bitterness 
crept  in  which  is  at  the  same  time  anti-Jew- 
ish and  unlike  Jesus.  For  while  he  might 
have  shared  the  well-known  rabbinical  dis- 
like for  the  several  classes  of  hypocritical 
Pharisees,  he  could  never  have  judged  all  the 
Pharisees  or  all  the  Jews  by  the  actions  of 
these.  It  must  be  a  more  than  difficult 
problem  for  a  diligent,  thoughtful  and  sin- 
cere student  of  the  Bible  to  be  able  to  decide 
which  elements  are  revelations  of  God,  and 
which  are  fulminations  of  angry  and  unjust 
partisans. 

The  Gospel  of  Mark,  which  is  the  oldest  of 
the  synoptics,  is  thought  by  scholars  to  be 
based  largely  on  the  original  Marcan  or  Ur- 
Marcus  source.  It  is  a  worked-over  document, 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS  31 

edited  by  an  anti-Jewish  Paulinist  redactor. 
Mark  says  nothing  of  the  ancestry,  birth  and 
childhood  of  Jesus.  His  interest  seems  to  be 
fixed  on  the  actual  life  and  death  of  the 
teacher.  The  supernatural  healing  powers 
of  Jesus  are  strongly  depicted,  and  while  Mat- 
thew knows  Jesus  primarily  as  a  preacher 
and  teacher,  he  is  to  Mark  a  preacher,  teach- 
er and  the  powerful  exerciser  of  evil  spirits : 
it  is  this  last  power  which  gives  him  a  special 
claim  to  the  Messiahship. 

The  present  Mark  is  also  based  upon 
Mark's  draft  of  the  Peter  reminiscences, 
though  it  represents  now  both  a  later  edition 
of  an  earlier  work  or  works,  and  traces  of 
two  or  three  different  sources.  It  contains 
Pauline  elements  which  it  could  not  have 
contained  had  it  been  the  product  solely  of 
Mark's  version  of  the  Petrtne  material. 
Some  critics  detect  in  this  gospel  an  Ara- 
maic original  or  originals,  the  former  of 
which  was  later  translated  into  Greek,  and 
in  which  the  supernatural  powers  of  Jesus 
as  Messiah  are  brought  out.  Then  a  later 
redactor  brings  this  work  down  to  its  pres- 
ent canonical  form,  embodying  in  it  certain 
dogmatic  elements  which  had  become  char- 
acteristic of  the  growing  church. 

The  date  of  Mark  is  as  unsettled  as  that  of 
the  other  synoptics.  The  best  critics  of  the 
day  place  it  at  between  70  and  130  of  the 


32  JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

present  era.  The  most  likely  date  seems  to 
be  between  70  and  90. 

Here  we  are  again  moved  to  ask  which  of 
the  strata  or  sources  of  this  gospel  are  to 
bear  the  seal  of  divine  revelation?  Is  it  to 
be  the  Ur-Marcus;  the  Aramaic  sources,  the 
work  of  the  Paulinist  anti-Jewish  Redactor, 
or  the  whole  gospel  as  edited  by  a  final  editor 
at  the  end  of  the  first  century  or  in  the  be- 
ginning of  the  second,  and  containing  at  the 
very  end  an  apocryphal  quotation  to  give  a 
literary  ending  to  the  book? 

The  Third  Gospel,  written  in  scholarly 
Greek,  starts  out  as  a  compilation  of  several 
traditions  and  narratives  concerning  the  life 
of  Jesus.  The  author,  Luke,  says  he  was  not 
an  eye-witness  of  the  events  he  is  about  to 
narrate;  he  seems  to  have  prepared  himself 
by  consulting  the  narratives  and  oral  tradi- 
tions known  in  his  day.  He  says  nothing  of 
revelation  or  divine  guidance.  He  lays  no 
claim  to  any  supernatural  influence.  He  sim- 
ply writes  to  his  friend,  Theophilus,  what  he 
thinks  is  an  historical  account  of  the  new 
sect  and  tries  in  this  account  to  harmonize 
as  well  as  he  can  the  oft  conflicting  contents 
of  the  different  traditions  and  sources  at  his 
command.  The  author  uses  Mark  exten- 
sively, as  also  Matthew,  and  very  probably 
other  gospels  now  lost.  Luke  contains  sev- 
eral events  not  mentioned  in  the  other  syn- 
optic accounts.  Among  these  are  the  an- 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS  33 

nouncement  of  the  birth  of  John  the  Baptist, 
the  prediction  of  the  birth  of  Jesus,  the  visit 
of  Mary  to  Elizabeth,  and  the  boyhood  'of 
Jesus,  which  of  course  has  no  historically 
authenticated  basis,  and  is  similar  to  the 
story  of  Samuel  and  to  that  of  many  other 
mythical  and  historical  religious  founders. 

In  this  non-Jewish  gospel  Jesus  is  repre- 
sented more  than  in  the  others  as  a  friend 
of  the  sinners,  the  poor,  and  the  downfallen. 
Contrary  to  the  other  synoptics,  Luke  em- 
phasizes Jerusalem  as  the  center  of  the  ac- 
tivity of  Jesus  and  his  disciples. 

The  date  of  this  gospel,  like  that  of  the 
others,  is  a  matter  of  dispute.  It  is  probably 
the  latest  of  the  synoptic  gospels,  yet  there 
is  no  definite  date  assigned  to  it,  the  date 
varying  from  54  to  130  after  Jesus.  Conser- 
vative scholarship  places  it  at  about  100. 

The  Fourth  Gospel,  an  attempt  to  harmon- 
ize the  dogmas  of  growing  Christianity  with 
Alexandrian  Jewish  philosophy,  was  written 
for  the  purpose  of  showing  the  life  of  Jesus 
to  have  been  "an  episode  in  the  external  ex- 
istence of  the  Logos."  He  was  in  fact  the 
Logos.  The  gospel  contains  several  definite 
strata  of  thought,  viz:  Old  Testament,  Pau- 
linist,  Philonic,  Gnostic  and  Stoic.  It  differs 
from  the  other  gospels  decisively  in  so  far 
as  in  it  Jesus  loses  a  great  deal  of  that  hu- 
manness  which  characterizes  him  in  the  syn- 
optics. As  the  Logos,  he  is  above  human- 


34  JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

kind ;  in  fact,  according  to  St.  John,  Jesus  be- 
comes transcendental  and  his  mysteriousness 
becomes  marked.  The  author  maintains  a 
certain  consistency  in  this  work  and  in  ac- 
cordance with  his  conception  of  Jesiis,  this 
teacher  is  made  to  know  his  own  life,  his  mis- 
sion and  his  death.  He  is  made  to  act  inde- 
pendently of  human  relationships,  and  to  the 
end  he  remains  what  he  was  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  gospel,  a  superhuman  creature — 
an  incarnation  of  the  author's  philosophical 
abstraction — God  incarnate. 

The  writer  of  this  gospel  loses  no  oppor- 
tunity to  impress  the  reader  with  the  divine 
messiahship  of  Jesus  and  his  relation  to  God 
as  His  son.  This  appears  from  the  earliest 
acts  of  Jesus  recorded  here,  and  in  this  re- 
spect, John  differs  from  the  other  gospels. 
He  does  not  make  Jesus  feel  himself  grow- 
ing; there  is  no  development  of  the  messi- 
anic consciousness  within  him;  he  comes  as 
the  Logos  or  the  manifestation  of  the  Logos, 
and  demonstrates  this  by  his  marvelous  acts. 
The  author  of  the  gospel  uses  the  story  of 
the  raising  of  Lazarus  to  show  the  divine 
power  of  Jesus.  Here  the  dead  is  raised  four 
days  after  death,  when  he  had  already  been 
committed  to  the  grave.  In  the  case  of  the 
restoration  to  life,  viz.,  that  of  the  widow's 
son  at  Nain,"  death  must  have  occurred  only 
a  few  'hours  before  the  procession  was  seen 
by  Jesus  and  the  disciples,  as  it  was  the  cus- 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS  35 

torn  among  the  early  Jews  to  bury  as  soon  as 
possible  after  dissolution.  In  the  case  of  the 
daughter  of  Jairus  also,  the  child  was  at  the 
point  of  death,  or,  as  according  to  Matthew, 
'had  just  died.  In  both  of  these  cases  life 
had  been  restored  almost  immediately  after 
death.  But  in  the  story  of  Lazarus,  the  su- 
preme power  of  Jesus  is  brought  out  under 
the  circumstances  already  stated.  And  this 
is  in  keeping  with  that  gospel  conception  of 
Jesus. 

The  author  of  the  Fourth  Gospel  probably 
knew  the  synoptics.  That  he  was  acquainted 
with  the  gospel  of  Mark  is  certain.  For  he 
follows  this  except  where  it  suits  his  pur- 
pose to  depart  from  it,  or  where  he  has  a 
tradition  which  seems  more  adapted  to  his 
conception  of  Jesus.  That  there  are  con- 
tradictions between  this  gospel  and  the  oth- 
ers, is  accounted  for  by  the  fact  that  its  au- 
thor was  acquainted  with  gospel  traditions 
then  known  but  now  lost,  which  he  incorpor- 
ated into  his  text. 

Who  the  author  of  this  piece  of  -ancient 
mysticism  was,  criticism  has  not  yet  been 
able  to  determine.  John  the  Presbyter  is 
not  the  only  one  to  whom  its  authorship  has 
been  assigned;  it  is  pretty  well  agreed  that 
he  has  even  less  claim  than  the  others  wfto 
have  been  proposed.  Whoever  did  edit  it,  used 
the  name  "John"  for  reasons  already  men- 
tioned. The  author  was  probably  a  Jewish 


36  JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

Christian  who  was  neither  an  eye-witness  of 
the  events  which  he  described  nor  an  inhab- 
itant of  the  places  where  the  acts  he  speaks 
of  took  place.  The  discrepancies  between 
this  gospel  and  the  others  point  to  this  con- 
clusion. But  whoever  the  writer  was,  he  had 
come  under  the  spiritualizing  influence  of 
Alexandrian  Jewish  philosophy,  Gnosticism, 
and  Pauline  theology,  and  these  he  incorpor- 
ated into  Christian  traditions  so  skillfully 
that  modern  criticism  has  been  unable  to  un- 
ravel his  work.  Chapter  XXI  is  a  Galilean 
addition  which  was  appended  by  some  one 
long  after  the  original  had  been  completed 
and  finally  edited.  The  date  of  the  gospel  is 
placed  somewhere  between  110  and  130  and 
by  some  as  late  as  170,  while  the  additional 
chapter  is  dated  between  150  and  185. 

We  know  little  about  the  Acts  of  the  Apos- 
tles that  can  be  called  authentic.  Luke  may 
have  written  them,  but  what  their  basis  was 
we  do  not  know.  They  seem  to  contain  ele- 
ments from  documents  which  have  been  lost, 
and  the  authenticity  of  which  can  only  be 
assumed.  There  are  some  who  believe  that 
Acts  is  based  upon  an  original  which  was  the 
sequel  to  the  Ur-Marcus,  while  some  main- 
tain that  the  original  source  was  -a  Jewish- 
Christian  document.  This,  it  is  believed, 
was  worked  over  by  Luke,  and  into  it  were 
incorporated  supernatural  events  and  anec- 
dotes which  he  drew  from  popular  Christian 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS  37 

traditions.  These  he  might  have  colored 
and  exaggerated  to  some  extent.  Critics  dis- 
cern in  this  work  parts  of  a  larger  one,  but 
its  identification  has  not  yet  been  establish- 
ed. All  that  we  can  say  is  that  Luke  prob- 
ably wrote  Acts  as  we  have  it;  and  that  the 
book  is  based  upon  lost  sources  which  con- 
tained popular  traditions  and  even  Mid- 
rashic  elements.  The  purpose  of  this  docu- 
ment seems  to  have  been  the  bringing  about 
of  a  reconciliation  between  the  Jewish  Chris- 
tians and  the  Gentile  Christians,  who  were 
being  divided  because  of  the  rivalry  between 
the  followers  of  Peter  and  those  of  Paul.  The 
date  of  the  Acts  is  given  as  between  100  and 
125  years  after  Jesus. 

We  have  given  a  very  short  summary  of 
the  principal  literature  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment, and  that  which  bears  directly  on  the 
life  and  doings  of  Jesus.  For  the  sake  of 
completion,  however,  we  deem  it  wise  to  cite 
in  as  short  form  as  possible,  the  latest  results 
of  criticism  with  regard  to  the  authorship 
and  date  of  the  other  books  of  the  New  Tes- 
tament. They  too,  are  important  for  our 
purpose,  as  their  unauthoritativeness  and 
historical  uncertainty  will  strengthen  our 
contention  with  regard  to  the  inherent 
weakness  of  the  newer  covenant. 

The  "correspondence  of  Paul  is  the  most 
historical  of  all  New  Testament  literature. 
The  epistles  which  are  supposedly  genuinely 


38  JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

Pauline  date  from  the  latter  part  of  the  ac- 
tivity of  Paul,  but  they  have  been  worked 
over  and  re-edited,  and  their  autographs  had 
disappeared  as  early  as  the  first  quarter  of 
the  second  century.  The  Epistles  to  the  Cor- 
inthians are  dated  about  60.  The  letters  to 
the  Thessalonians,  Galatians  and  Romans, 
are  dated  about  the  same  time.  Doubt  cen- 
ters about  the  first  fifteen  chapters  of  Ro- 
mans, some  maintaining  that  they  were  the 
original  of  Paul's  letter.  Concerning  the 
editorial  changes  in  this  epistle,  there  is  a 
question  as  to  whether  they  were  made  by 
Paul  himself  or  by  a  later  Pauline  writer. 
The  first  Thessalonians  is  by  some  regarded 
even  as  a  pseudonymous  epistle  of  a  post- 
Pauline  origin.  It  is  mentioned  by  the 
church  fathers  who  wrote  during  the  early 
part  of  the  second  century,  and  this  would 
indicate  that  this  espistle  did  not  originate 
much  later  than  the  first  century.  Second 
Thessalonians  is  believed  to  be  a  Paulinist's 
work  based  on  the  First  Thessalonians,  and 
is  placed  between  70  and  110.  Others  regard 
it  as  a  second  century  product,  but  the  work 
of  a  Paulinist  who  worked  over  a  pre-Chris- 
tian Jewish  apocalypse. 

The  present  Ephesians  is  believed  to  be  a 
revised  and  re-edited  form  of  an  original  let- 
ter of  the  apostle.  But  both  this  epistle  and 
Colossians  could  have  been  written  by  the 
same  hand,  that  of  some  later  Paulinist  who 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS  39 

used  Paul's  name  just  as  did  Luke  in  com- 
posing the  Pauline  speeches  in  Acts.  The 
epistle  seems  to  have  been  a  tract  pleading 
for  union  among  dissenting  Christians.  Its 
date  ranges  from  about  62  to  85  of  the  pres- 
ent era,  but  it  has  been  placed  by  some 
scholars  -as  late  as  the  second  century. 

About  the  date  of  Colossians,  too,  there  is 
uncertainty.  The  conservative  scholars  say 
Paul  wrote  the  epistle  in  or  about  62,  while 
advanced  critics  assign  it  also  to  the  second 
century. 

Timothy  I  and  II,  and  Titus  are  grouped 
together  and  are  supposedly  Pauline  pamph- 
lets or  tracts  to  those  who  were  skeptical  of 
Paul's  authority.  If  these  contain  Pauline 
sources  they  have  been  so  worked  over  that 
it  is  difficult  to  find  them.  The  writer  of 
these  wrote  in  Paul's  name,  as  did  so  many 
others,  and  sank  his  individuality  into  that 
of  Paul's.  These  epistles  are  dated  between 
90  and  120  of  the  present  era. 

Philemon  is  a  letter  written  by  Paul  while 
he  was  a  prisoner,  at  about  62.  It  contains 
nothing  of  originality  and  is  a  personal  let- 
ter from  the  apostle  fo  a  Christian  friend. 
This  date  is  also  disputed  by  the  critics. 

According  to  the  latest  research,  "Paul 
neither  wrote  nor  had  anything  to  do  with 
the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews.  Nor  was  it  writ- 
ten to  the  Hebrews  at  all ;  it  was  sent  to  gen- 
tile Christians  and  its  authorship  is  un- 


40  JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

known.  As  early  as  the  third  century  its 
authorship  was  disputed,  some  maintaining 
that  Paul  wrote  it,  others  that  Luke  was  the 
author.  Scholars  maintain  that  the  former 
did  not  write  it  because  of  the  religious  con- 
tents and  character  of  the  document.  Clem- 
ent of  Rome,  and  Barnabas  were  anciently 
proposed  as  authors,  and  not  until  the  fourth 
century  did  it  become  known  as  Pauline. 
Modern  critics  are  also  divided  as  to  author- 
ship, this  being  claimed  for  Apollos,  Silas  or 
Silvanus — both  companions  of  Paul,  Peter, 
Philip  of  Caesarea,  Aristion,  who  is  the  alleg- 
ed author  of  a  portion  of  Mark  (16:9-20); 
and  even  others.  The  author  cannot  be  iden- 
tified definitely  with  any  figure  of  tradition. 
The  epistle  was  not  directed  to  Jewish  Chris- 
tians alone,  but  to  all  Christians,  and  its  title 
is  erroneous  and  20"was  probably  added  to 
the  epistle  during  the  earlier  part  of  the  sec- 
ond century,  as  a  reflection  of  the  impression 
made  upon  the  mind  of  a  generation  which 
had  lost  all  direct  knowledge  of  the  writing's 
origin  and  standpoint."  The  date  of  the 
epistle  is  placed  at  between  63  and  118  after 
Jesus. 

James  is  probably  based  upon  an  address 
delivered  in  Jerusalem.  It  is  somewhat  con- 
tradictory to  the  theology  of  Paul,  approach- 
ing very  closely  the  rabbinical  idea  that  deed 
rather  than  faith,  is  the  more  important  ele- 
ment in  religion.  It  is  one  of  the  latest  of  the 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS  41 

New  Testament  books  to  become  canonical, 
this  taking  place  near  the  end  of  the  fourth 
century.  The  epistle  was  not  written  by 
James,  the  brother  of  Jesus  and  the  head  of 
the  church  in  Jerusalem;  it  was  written  by 
a  Jewish  Christian  who  sought  to  impress 
upon  the  Christian  brethren  the  importance 
of  right  living,  a  matter  Which  must  have 
fallen  rather  into  the  background  after  the 
thorough  establishment  of  the  Pauline  idea 
of  salvation  by  faith.  No  date  has  been 
agreed  on,  and  its  composition  is  placed  at 
between  62  and  150,  with  an  inclination  on 
the  part  of  a  greater  number  of  writers  to 
place  it  at  about  100. 

The  authorship  of  the  first  of  the  Epistles 
of  Peter  has  not  by  any  means  been  deter- 
mined as  that  of  Peter  himself.  It  is  argued 
that  had  Simon  Peter  written  this,  a  great 
deal  more  about  Jesus  would  have  been  given 
us  than  appears  here  now.  Silvanus  is 
thought  to  be  the  author,  at  least  of  the  form 
in  which  we  have  it.  Others  maintain  that 
an  anonymous  writer  wrote  this"  epistle  using 
the  name  of  Peter.  The  dates  assigned  to 
this  letter  are  as  varied  as  the  alleged  auth- 
orship, and  54-140  are  given;  the  greater 
number  of  critics  place  it  no  later  than  117. 

The  second  Epistle  of  Peter  is  the  work  of 
a  later  anonymous  writer  who  used  the  name 
of  the  apostle.  It  is  unlike  the  first  epistle 
of  the  same  name,  and  shows  marked  Phil- 


42  JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

onic  and  Jewish  midrashic  influences.  The 
author  probably  used  the  first  Peter,  but  he 
did  not  write  it.  He  desired  authority  for 
his  document  and  he  attached  to  it  'a  name 
honored  in  the  church.  Authorities  are 
agreed  upon  the  lateness  of  this  epistle,  and 
its  date  is  placed  between  150  and  170. 

The  First  John  seems  to  be  an  anonymous 
homily  bearing  a  close  relationship  to  the 
fourth  gospel.  It  was,  of  course,  not  writ- 
ten by  John,  the  son  of  Zebedee,  and  its  date 
is  generally  regarded  as  about  the  same  as 
that  of  the  gospel  of  the  same  name.  The 
second  and  third  John  are  the  products  of 
John  the  Presbyter — not  John  the  apostle — 
or  a  disciple  of  John.  The  letters  contain  no 
illuminating  truths,  and  are  placed  by  those 
who  ascribe  them  to  John  the  Presbyter,  at 
between  110  and  155. 

Jude  is  a  second  century  product  of  an 
author  who  attempted  to  correct  certain 
moral  evils.  It  was  not  written  by  Judas,  the 
brother  of  Jesus.  The  date  of  this  epistle 
is  as  hazy  as  that  of  the  others,  and  the  best 
critics  now  place  the  authorship  of  this  let- 
ter in  the  first  quarter  of  the  second  century. 

The  Apocalypse  of  John  or  the  Revelation 
of  John  is  according  to  some,  a  re-written 
document  based  upon  Jewish  sources,  and 
written  about  70.  Others  maintain  that  it 
is  an  original  apocalypse  by  John  Mark  based 
on  Christian  sources,  while  still  others  main- 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS  43 

tain  that  it  is  the  work  of  John  the  Presby- 
ter, who  also  based  it  on  Jewish  apocalyptic 
originals.  The  first  three  verses  of  the  first 
chapter  were  added  by  a  late  writer.  The 
work  has  the  form  of  an  Old  Testament 
apocalypse,  and  some  believe  it  is  even  mod- 
eled after  Ezekiel  and  Zechariah.  The  book 
was  used  in  the  early  church  and  a  great 
many  glosses  have  crept  in,  among  which 
are  the  last  few  verses,  22:18-21.  At  an 
early  date  a  sentiment  against  the  canonicity 
of  this  book  developed  on  account  of  its  use 
by  the  Gnostics.  The  work  is  a  fanatic  ex- 
position of  dogmatic  growths,  written  in  the 
form  of  a  revelation,  and  designed  to  encour- 
age and  strengthen  the  Christians  in  their 
repulsion  of  the  Roman  heresies  of  the  Em- 
peror Domitian,  just  as  the  Jews  when  Dan- 
iel was  written,  had  repelled  those  of  Antio- 
chus  Epiphanes  under  the  valiant  Macca- 
beans.  The  rites  of  the  Caesar-cultus  were 
to  be  the  last  death-throb  of  the  Roman  em- 
pire, after  the  destruction  of  which  the  reign 
of  the  present  order  would  cease,  and  the 
messiah  would  re-appear.  The  date  ranges 
from  65-100,  with  preference  for  about  90. 

Our  purpose  in  giving  this  cursory  review 
of  the  New  Testament  writings,  is  not  mere- 
ly to  gather  the  results  of  the  modern 
scientific  investigators.  We  started  out  by 
saying  that  under  the  conditions  of  modern 
training,  we  should  expect  authenticated 


44  JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

documents  to  be  the  sources  of  what  we  are 
asked  to  believe  historical  characters  said  or 
did.  We  have  learned  that  hearsay  is  not 
authority,  and  we  have  learned  too,  that  the 
farther  we  are  removed  from  a  historical 
personage  in  time,  the  less  authentic  are  the 
hearsay  reports  concerning  him.  This  is 
eminently  true  of  an  age  in  which  one's  say- 
ings and  acts  were  not  recorded  either  with 
exactness  or  with  faithfulness  to  fact. 

If  there  are  those  who  would  have  us  be- 
lieve that  Jesus  said  or  did  certain  things, 
we  have  a  right  to  ask  for  more  historical 
records  than  those  we  have.  It  is  hardly  fair 
to  expect  men  to  believe  that  Jesus  said  that 
or  did  this  in  the  face  of  the  unhistorical 
character  of  the  gospels,  and  the  difference 
of  opinion  among  the  scholars  concerning 
them.  It  is  nothing  less  than  remarkable 
that  there  is  so  little  agreement  concerning 
the  date  and  the  authorship  of  the  New  Tes- 
tament writings  among  Christian  scholars; 
and  it  is  no  mean  indication  of  their  weak- 
ness so  far  as  their  historicity  is  concerned. 
There  is  plenty  of  room  for  skepticism  when 
one  realizes  that  almost  half  a  century  pass- 
ed, and  in  many  cases  a  longer  time,  before 
the  records  of  the  chief  character  of  the  New 
Testament  were  committed  to  writing,  and 
that  this  was  done  neither  by  himself  nor 
by  those  who  worked  immediately  with  him. 
What  a  marvelous  assumption  do  they  make, 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS  45 

who  tell  us  in  the  face  of  all  this  indefinite- 
ness,  that  Jesus  would  do  this  or  that  under 
this  set  of  circumstances  or  that  set.  And 
how  deep  must  be  the  faith  of  those  who  can 
believe  everything  they  so  haphazardly  read 
in  the  biblical  records !  After  a  study  of  the 
books  of  the  newer  canon;  after  a  thorough 
realization  that  neither  Paul,  the  apostles, 
nor  the  later  writers  ever  expected  their 
products  to  be  vested  with  holiness  or  inspir- 
ation, one  feels  that  the  structure  of  early 
Christianity  has  been  built  upon  a  sandy 
foundation,  and  that  the  ancient  church  dig- 
nitaries were  the  real  master-builders  of  the 
faith  rather  than  Jesus  and  his  apostles.  And 
this  feeling  is  borne  out  by  history,  for  the 
life  of  the  church  thus  far  has  consisted  not 
of  the  vitalization  of  the  ethics  of  Jesus  the 
Jew,  but  of  the  ethics  of  the  church  fathers, 
who  in  most  cases  were  the  sons  of  Roman 
and  Greek  heathens.  Who  can  deny  that  the 
best  in  the  writings  of  the  New  Testament  is 
that  which  is  closely  related  to  the  mother- 
faith,  while  that  which  has  discolored  the 
pages  of  secular  history,  is  the  pernicious 
outgrowth  of  the  admixture  of  the  non- 
Jesus  and  heathen  elements?  However,  our 
purpose  is  not  to  castigate  the  church.  It 
would  come  with  indifferent  grace  from  one 
who  realizes  that  early  Judaism  too,  had  its 
weaknesses.  It  is  rather  to  show  how  utterly 
unreliable  the  ancient  records  are;  how  they 


46  JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

had  been  tampered  with  for  one  purpose  or 
another  and  how  it  is  really  impossible  to 
credit  to  Jesus  with  certainty  those  funda- 
mental ethical  principles  to  which  the  modern 
Christian  sociologists  point  as  the  salvation 
of  mankind,  that  this  is  written.  Even  the 
brightest  gem  in  the  whole  collection — the 
Sermon  on  the  Mount — does  not  stand  out  as 
21original  in  the  clear  light  of  research.  It  is 
only  by  a  sort  of  Christian  gratuity  that  this 
is  assigned  to  the  Teacher  himself!  It  is  a 
great  pity  that  he  did  not  leave  a  written  rec- 
ord of  his  sayings  and  teachings,  for  had  he 
done  so,  Jewish  literature  might  have  been 
enriched  by  many  jewels  from  one  who 
breathed  a  Jewish  atmosphere,  lived  and 
died  a  Jew,  and  as  far  as  tradition  can  be  be- 
lieved, was  turned  against  his  people  only  af- 
ter his  death,  when  he  was  transformed  into 
a  god  by  those  who  understood  neither  him, 
his  teachings,  nor  his  people. 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS  47 

CHAPTER  II. 
Post-Biblical  Jewish  Ideals. 

It  is  on  this  New  Testament  evidence  that 
the  whole  structure  of  the  contributions  of 
Jesus  is  built.  There  is  more  than  a  grain 
of  truth  in  the  viewpoint  of  those  who  main- 
tain that  most  of  the  New  Testament  con- 
tributions are  only  historical  probabilities, 
whose  weaknesses  are  by  no  means  hidden. 
Books  on  the  order  of  the  "Life  of  Jesus,"  by 
Strauss,  and  the  works  of  Drews  and  W.  B. 
Smith  are  not  to  be  despised;  they  are  at 
least  more  logical  than  such  works  as  the 
life  of  Jesus  by  Renan,  who  evolves  a  Jesus 
out  of  his  own  mind  and  then  makes  it  fit  the 
New  Testament  writings.  Yet  Renan  is  not 
by  any  means  the  only  one  guilty  of  such  ro- 
manticism; the  words  of  Ecclesiastes  can 
well  apply  here,  "of  making  many  books 
there  is  no  end." 

There  is  a  pronounced  tendency  to  accept  as 
historical  much  of  the  alleged  material  of 
Jesus.  Indeed  it  has  too  strong  a  hold  on  the 
western  world  to  be  dismissed  as  unimport- 
ant, and  this  even  they  must  admit,  who  find 
in  his  purported  contributions  only  a  mini- 
mum of  historicity.  But  there  is  a  middle 
ground  between  either  accepting  or  reject- 


48  JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND' 

ing  what  is  ascribed  to  Jesus.  And  this  mid- 
dle ground  is  obtained  by  placing  his  alleged 
contributions  on  an  equal  historical  footing 
with  those  of  the  apocryphal,  apocalyptic, 
and  rabbinical  sources  of  that  early  Chris- 
tian period.  We  can  judge  the  New  Testa- 
ment writings  on  the  same  historical  basis 
as  that  of  the  Book  of  Jubilees,  the  Testa- 
ments of  the  Patriarchs  or  the  stories  of 
Hillel ;  and  this  too  gives  us  a  common  basis 
for  a  comparison.  And  indeed  there  is  much 
to  compare. 

When  one  reads  the  modern  books  on  the 
life  of  Jesus,  one  is  apt  to  conclude  that  what- 
ever is  held  up  as  the  best  in  the  gospels  is 
the  absolute,  new,  and  distinct  contribution 
of  the  man  from  Gallilee.  How  often  for  in- 
stance have  we  been  regaled  with  his  "new" 
enunciation  of  love!  What  Christian  minis- 
ter has  tired  of  hurling  at  Jews  as  the  con- 
tribution of  Jesus,  that  inimitable  word 
which  spells  the  tenderest  sentiments  of  the 
holiest  relations  on  earth.  How  often  have 
we  been  left  in  breathless  astonishment  by 
the  insistence  that  the  New  Testament  law 
of  "love"  is  a  new  law,  different  and  distinct 
from  that  of  Leviticus:  "Thou  shalt  not 
avenge  nor  bear  any  grudge  against  the  chil- 
dren of  thy  people  but  thou  shalt  love  thy 
neighbor  as  thyself."  Or  that  other  equally 
well  known  verse:  2"But  the  stranger  that 
dwelleth  with  you  shall  be  as  one  born  among 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS  49 

you,  and  thou  shall  love  him  as  thyself  for 
ye  were  strangers  in  the  land  of  Egypt."  This 
context  will  hardly  permit  us  to  say  that  the 
word  "neighbor"  means  fellow-Jew.  There 
have  been  those  who  have  tried  to  construe 
this,  and  we  are  in  error  if  we  do  not  admit 
that  the  references  in  Matthew,  Mark,  Luke, 
Romans,  Galatians  and  James,  "thou  shalt 
love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself,"  all  are  a  re- 
statement of  the  Levitical  commandments 
which  have  become  part  of  the  stock  of  Ju- 
daism ;  and  it  seems  very  possible  too,  from 
the  wording  of  the  last  two,  that  the  sayings 
of  Akiba,  who  lived  before  the  final  redaction 
of  these  documents,  was  not  unknown  to 
their  authors:  "Thou  shalt  love  thy  neigh- 
bor as  thyself,"  he  said,  "this  is  the  greatest 
principle  in  the  Torah."  It  is  hardly  possible 
that  Akiba,  who  was  born  about  50  after 
Jesus,  and  had  studied  and  taught  all  of  his 
life — lie  was  martyred  in  132 — took  his  cue 
from  Galatians  or  Romans  or  the  Gospels. 
To  those  who  would  quote  Matthew,  "ye 
have  heard  that  it  hath  been  said  thou  shalt 
love  thy  neighbor  and  hate  thine  enemy,  but 
I  say  unto  you,  love  your  enemies,  bless  them 
that  curse  you,  do  good  to  them  that  hate 
you,  and  pray  for  those  that  spitefully  use 
you  and  persecute  you,"  we  would  suggest 
that  the  words  "hate  thine  enemies"  is  not  in 
the  Old  Testament ;  while  the  last  part  of  the 
following  verse  reads  like  an  excellent  com- 


50  JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

mentary  and  an  improvement  on  the  verses 
in  Proverbs :  5"Say  not  I  will  do  so  to  him 
who  hath  done  so  to  me ;  but  if  thine  enemy 
be  hungry  give  him  bread  to  eat;  if  he  be 
thirsty,  give  him  water  to  drink  for  thou 
shalt  be  heaping  coals  of  fire  upon  his  head, 
and  God  will  requite  thee."  And  if  the  words 
of  the  gospels  occasionally  improve  upon  a 
thought  of  the  Old  Testament,  one  may  re- 
joice to  see  one  Jewish  teacher  improve  upon 
another.  The  Jewish  sages  very  often  com- 
mented upon  and  even  restated  teachings  of 
the  Bible.  Jesus  but  did  the  same.  But 
Akiba  could  hardly  have  known  the  New 
Testament  writings. 

We  have  been  accustomed  to  hear  so  much 
of  the  Scribes  and  the  Pharisees — the  good 
they  did  is  never  mentioned — their  great  vir- 
tues never  spoken  of — that  they  have  come 
to  be  associated  in  many  minds  with  bigotry, 
hypocrisy,  and  religious  narrowness.  It  Is 
the  unspeakable  misfortune  of  Judaism  that 
its  sources  of  knowledge  and  evidence  are 
not  generally  tapped  by  non-Jews,  for  if  they 
were,  non-Jews  would  soon  find  out  that  not 
all  Scribes  were  bad;  that  there  were  many 
very  excellent  Pharisees,  and  that  there  were 
sages  and  teachers  who  spoke  with  an  au- 
thority and  an  originality  no  less  inspired 
and  subjective  than  that  of  Jesus.  When 
Hillel  said,  6"love  peace  and  pursue  it,  love 
your  fellow-creatures  and  bring  them  near 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS  51 

to  God's  law,"  he  said  something  which  in 
this  particular  form  had  never  before  been 
expressed;  just  <as  when  Jesus  said,  7"the 
Sabbath,  it  was  made  for  man,  not  man  for 
the  Sabbath,"  he  expressed  a  well  known 
thought  of  the  rabbis  in  slightly  different 
form.  Their  way  of  saying  it  was:  8"You 
were  not  delivered  unto  the  Sabbath,  but  the 
Sabbath  was  delivered  to  you."  The  fact 
that  the  rabbis  tried  to  give  in  their  serious 
legal  disputations  precedents  for  their  decis- 
ions just  as  our  courts  do  today,  never  deter- 
red an  individual  sage  or  teacher  from  giv- 
ing expression  to  his  own  opinion  or  inspira- 
tion, and  this  is  the  noticeable  feature  that 
the  editors  found  in  the  teaching  of  Jesus 
and  expressed  in  "Mark  and  Luke.  The  giv- 
ing of  a  decision  on  one's  authority  might 
have  astonished  those  who  did  not  know  the 
freedom  allowed  teachers  in  Israel  at  all 
times,  or  it  might  have  appeared  unusual  to 
those  who  were  not  acquainted  with  Jewish 
methods  and  Jewish  wisdom ;  but  Jesus  nev- 
er seemed  to  be  excited  about  it ;  nor  did  the 
apostles  express  any  astonishment.  That  the 
statements  were  inserted  to  impress  those 
who  did  not  know  Jewish  life,  cannot  be 
doubted  seriously.  One  might  be  led  to  be- 
lieve that  in  the  days  of  Jesus,  a  Jewish 
teacher  dared  not  to  utter  a  sentiment,  un- 
less he  could  trace  it  to  or  derive  it  from  some 
"authority."  This  indeed  was  generally  true 


52  JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

so  far  as  the  legal  decisions  were  concerned- 
true  for  that  day,  and  true  for  our  day ;  but 
how  many  jewels  are  there  in  the  rabbinical 
crown  of  thought  which  are  subjective,  spon- 
taneous, self-authoritated  and  inspired?  One 
ought  to  read  over,  even  if  only  hastily,  that 
unsurpassable  treatise  known  as  the  ""Ethics 
of  the  Fathers"  put  into  critical  form  by 
"Prof.  Taylor,  so  as  to  understand  the  shal- 
lowness  of  the  statements  referred  to  in 
Mark  and  Luke.  Can  anyone  really  think 
that  a  people  like  the  Jews,  throbbing  and 
pulsating  with  life,  could  have  had  all  of 
their  vast  knowledge  and  all  of  their  thought 
contained  only  in  the  scrolls,  laws  and  decis- 
ions of  the  teachers?  Is  it  possible  to  imag- 
ine that  in  that  growing  and  thriving  city  of 
Jerusalem,  or  in  the  life-preserving  schools 
of  Sura,  Jamnia  or  Pumbaditha,  or  in  the 
other  academies,  the  men  who  taught  were 
scribblers  or  imitators  of  their  fathers ;  that 
they  spent  their  time  in  "rehashing"  old  de- 
cisions, and  put  on  the  index  anything  that 
was  new,  clever  or  brilliant  because  it  may 
not  have  been  handed  down  in  the  name  of 
somebody  or  other?  And  is  just  this  not  the 
impression  one  gets  of  these  ancient  sages, 
when  one  reads  the  many  manuals  treating 
of  the  teachings  of  Jesus  ? 

Another  false  impression  that  the  world 
has,  and  which  may  here  be  corrected,  is  that 
Judaism  practically  ceased  with  the  close  of 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS  53 

the  Old  Testament  or  very  soon  after  it.  It 
seems  to  forget  that  this  great  work  is  the 
budding  of  the  religious  development  of  the 
Jew,  while  the  next  centuries  brought  forth 
the  flowering.  We  must  not  forget  that  the 
real  life  of  the  Jew,  though  it  may  have  its 
sources  in  Biblical  prescriptions,  takes  its 
thought,  not  alone  from  the  Bible.  There  are 
as  magnificent  religious  lessons  outside  of  the 
Bible  as  within  it;  there  are  some  master- 
pieces outside  of  the  canon  which  are  much 
superior  to  some  writings  in  it.  And  that 
the  rabbis  recognized  differences  in  the  Bib- 
lical writings  is  shown  by  the  discussions 
relative  to  the  inclusion  of  certain  books  like 
Ecclesiastes,  "the  Song  of  Songs,  Job,  and 
even  Ezekiel,  in  the  canon.  There  was  a  vig- 
orous national  life,  and  its  ramifications  were 
as  numerous  as  the  number  of  individuals 
who  possessed  any  originality.  There  were 
men  in  the  days  following  upon  the  close  of 
the  canon  who  did  not  observe  the  Sabbath 
nor  the  ceremonial  laws  of  the  Pentateuch. 
There  were  men  who  even  thought  that  the 
Bible  was  not  adequate  enough  to  contain  all 
the  rules  and  concepts  for  every-day  life.  And 
these  men  formed  a  party,  later  called  the 
Pharisees,  13so  large  and  influential  that  the 
whole  of  Judaism  took  on  its  attitude  and  its 
interpretation  of  both  the  oral  and  written 
Law  from  it.  And  there  was  another  party 
called  the  Sadducees,  14"who  opposed  these, 


54  JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

and  believed  that  the  Biblical  Law  did  suf- 
fice. That  Judaism  was  a  progressive,  liv- 
ing, and  vital  religion  is  shown  by  the 
fact  that  the  party  that  believed  in  the  all- 
sufficiency  of  the  Bible  practically  died  out; 
though  there  is  a  remnant  of  a  similar  sect 
at  present  in  the  Crimea  in  South  Russia, 
called  Karaites,  who  disregard  the  rabbini- 
cal traditions.  And  there  was  still  another 
party  in  Israel,  that  of  the  Essenes,16  a  dis- 
tinctively ascetic  sect,  whose  definite  mission 
was  to  clothe  the  naked,  relieve  the  poor,  at- 
tend the  sick  and  perform  those  rites,  which 
custom  had  sanctified  for  the  dying  and  the 
dead;  they  segregated  themselves  from  the 
pleasures  of  the  world,  lived  in  brotherhoods 
or  communities,  renounced  their  wealth,  and 
even  left  their  families  after  the  latter  had 
been  properly  taken  care  of,  to  consecrate 
themselves  to  this  work.  It  was  an  order  of 
the  ascetic  kind,  but  differed  from  Christian 
asceticism  in  so  far  as  its  devotees  were 
principally  men  who  had  already  reared  fam- 
ilies and  thus  acquitted  themselves  of  the  re- 
ligious injunction  to  be  "fruitful,  to  multi- 
ply and  fill  the  earth."16  And  between  these 
definite  parties  there  were  all  sorts  of  grada- 
tions. Not  all  "Pharisees  believed  alike ;  not 
all  thought  alike ;  and  he  who  wants  to  know 
the  truth,  may  get  it  not  from  the  New  Tes- 
tament, but  from  a  little  quotation  from  the 
Talmud,  which,  citing  popular  opinion  criti- 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS  65 

cising  certain  kinds  of  Pharisees,  says: 
"There  is  the  'shoulder  Pharisee/  who 
wears  as  it  were,  his  good  actions  ostenta- 
tiously upon  his  shoulder;  'the  wait-a-little' 
Pharisee,  who  always  says  'wait  a  little  until 
I  perform  the  good  act  awaiting  me/  the 
'bruised  Pharisee'  who  in  order  to  avoid 
looking  at  a  woman,  runs  against  the  wall  so 
as  to  bruise  himself  and  bleed;  'the  pestle 
Pharisee/  who  walks  with  his  heels  down 
like  the  pestle  in  the  mortar;  'the  ever- 
reckoning  Pharisee/  who  says,  'let  me 
know  what  good  I  may  do,  to  counteract  my 
neglect  /  then  there  is  the  'God-fearing  Phar- 
isee* after  the  manner  of  Job,  and  the  'God- 
loving  Pharisee/  after  the  manner  of  Abra- 
ham." '  In  this  connection  it  may  also  be  ad- 
ded that  the  hypocritical  Pharisee  received 
no  more  bitter  denunciation  from  Jesus,  than 
from  the  rabbis  themselves  by  whom  they 
were  called  not  only  "Pharisaic  plagues,"  but 
"destroyers  of  the  world."  But,  and  the  "but" 
should  be  repeated,  these  condemnations  ap- 
plied to  the  eccentric  and  hypocritical  of  the 
party;  and  in  this  greatest,  most  Influential, 
and  the  most  deeply  religious  and  progressive 
of  all  Jewish  parties,  not  all  were  cranks  and 
18"hypocrites,  serpents  and  offspring  of  vi- 
pers." The  men  of  the  type  of  Hillel  and 
S'hammai,  Akiba  ben  Mahalel,  Gamaliel  the 
Elder,  Jochanan  ben  Zakkai,  Simon  ben  Gam- 


56  JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

aliel,  and  the  Hasidic  martyrs  of  the  Macca- 
bean  struggles,  the  century  and  a  half  be- 
fore, are  assuredly  not  the  men  to  whom 
Jesus  applied — if  indeed  the  words  of  the 
gospels  are  his — "hypocrites,  blind  guides 
and  vipers."  That  there  were  such,  we  be- 
lieve, but  the  impression  that  the  untutored 
Christian  world  has  of  the  Pharisee — an 
impression  gained  solely  from  the  gospels — 
bears  impressively  characteristic  evidence  of 
the  historical  untruthf  ulness  of  at  least  those 
portions  of  the  newer  canon  which  belittle  a 
great  deal;  and  it  seems  to  us  that  the  men 
who  listened  to  the  preachings  of  the  Bap- 
tist or  of  Jesus  or  the  apostles,  did  not  differ 
<a  great  deal  in  kind  from  the  motley  crowds 
that  now  listen  to  the  ebullitions  of  the  curb- 
stone preacher.  And  can  one  dare  say  that  the 
best,  most  conservative  citizens  of  a  city,  will 
be  found  on  the  street  corners  or  in 
church-vestibules  arguing  questions  of  dogma 
and  religious  law,  especially  with  those 
preachers  who  come  from  the  corners  and 
crannies  of  the  country  districts,  with  their 
simplicity  and  inexperience,  to  teach  refined 
'and  educated  inhabitants  of  centers  of  cul- 
ture and  learning,  what  to  do  and  how  to 
live.  If  the  crowds  that  listened  to,  and  dis- 
puted with  Jesus,  and  to  which  the  gospels 
in  all  probability  refer,  are  at  all  like  the 
the  crowds  that  do  similar  things  today,  there 
may  have  been  some  justification  for  the  in- 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS  57 

dignant  outbreaks  of  the  sometimes  impa- 
tient teacher,  who  perhaps  on  these  occas- 
ions, more  than  on  any  other,  so  far  forgot 
his  own  alleged  ideals  as  to  set  himself 
squarely  against  them.  But  the  injustice  of 
the  matter  is  that  Christianity  judges  the 
gentle,  religious,  inoffensive,  progressive, 
albeit  unmentioned  thousands  of  Pharisees, 
by  these  untoward  specimens  of  the  street 
and  the  crowd,  with  whom  Jesus  lost  pa- 
tience; and  like  him,  too,  those  who  come  in 
his  name  fail  to  apply  to  the  Jewish  teachers 
and  their  descendants,  those  teachings  of 
love  and  consideration  which  place  Jesus  in 
the  estimation  of  Christians,  above  human- 
kind. But  this  is  another  one  of  the  many 
instances  of  the  irony  of  history.  And  yet 
we  do  not  wonder.  Has  it  not  always  been 
the  fate  of  the  Jewish  people  to  be  judged 
off-handedly  by  its  worst  sons?  And  how 
should  the  Pharisees  among  whom  were 
many  of  its  noblest  sons,  escape  this  injus- 
tice? 

In  passing,  we  may  touch  upon  a  related 
matter.  Much  has  been  written  about 
Jesus'  method  of  teaching.  19"It  was  so  nat- 
ural, so  elemental  and  so  sympathetic,  that 
everyone  could  understand  him ;"  that  of  the 
scribes  <and  sages  was  "highly  formal  and 
scholastic,"  while  his  was  easy,  informal,  and 
illustrated  by  parables.  One  is  prone  to  ask 
where  the  judgment  of  those  is,  who  cannot 


68  JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

see  that  the  life  of  the  ancient  teachers  can- 
not be  correctly  estimated  from  the  inimical 
passages  in  the  New  Testament — passages 
inserted  by  redactors  who  were  not  familiar 
with  Jewish  life!  Wtere  the  methods  of  the 
rabbis  formal  to  those  who  heard  them,  and 
has  anyone  ever  counted  the  hundreds  of 
parables  in  the  rabbinical  writings?  Is  it 
really  true  that  the  whole  of  the  learning  of 
the  Jews  in  the  days  of  Jesus,  and  their  life 
too,  centered  around  20"phylacteries,  wash- 
ing of  cups  and  tithing  of  mint?"  What  an 
historical  mis  judgment  for  grave  scholars 
to  cite  these  passages,  unfriendly  as  they 
are,  instead  of  going  to  the  tremendous  Jew- 
ish literature — the  Apocrypha,  Pseudepi- 
grapha,  the  Midrash,  the  Talmud  and  the 
other  sources — to  be  sure  not  as  easily  got- 
ten at  as  the  New  Testament.  What  excell- 
ent application  the  words  of  21Abtalyon  have 
here:  "Ye  sages,  be  heedful  of  your  words 
lest  ye  incur  the  penalty  of  exile  and  be  ex- 
iled to  a  place  of  evil  waters,  and  the  dis- 
ciples who  come  after  you  drink  thereof  and 
die,  and  the  Heavenly  Name  be  profaned." 
Or,  the  words  of  "Simon  ben  Shetach  mignt 
be  used  here  with  advantage:  "Be  ye  very 
searching  in  the  examining  of  testimony, 
and  be  heedful  of  your  words,  less  through 
them  men  learn  to  falsify."  And  these 
teachers,  too,  taught  "as  one  who  had  au- 
thority." 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS  59 

Let  it  not  surprise  our  friends  who  get 
their  knowledge  of  Judaism  from  non-Jew- 
ish and  Greek  sources,  that  the  parable  was 
a  highly  developed  pedagogical  method  in 
use  among  the  Jews  of  the  biblical  and  post- 
biblical  days.  Parables  are  found  not  only 
in  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  but  on  al- 
most every  page  of  the  different  Midrash- 
im,  and  no  one  has  ever  yet  found  time 
enough  to  count  those  in  the  Talmud.28  I  am 
aware  that  the  closing  of  the  Talmud  fol- 
lows that  of  the  New  Testament  by  about 
three  centuries,  but  it  must  not  be  forgot- 
ten that  the  contents  of  the  Talmud  ante- 
date its  closing  by  several  centuries,  and 
that  some  of  this  content  is  very  old,  dating 
from  times  much  earlier  than  those  of  the 
Maccabeans.  No  one  can  maintain  definite- 
ly how  old  the  "Mashel,"  the  parable,  is,  but 
there  is  more  than  ample  historical  proof  of 
the  fact  that  by  the  first  century  it  had  be- 
come a  fixed  method  of  instruction  among 
the  Jews.  In  looking  over  just  at  random 
one  chapter  of  some  five  and  one-half  pages 
in  the  "Midrash  Rabba"  on  Deuteronomy, 
eight  stories  or  parables  were  found.  It  is 
well  known  that  there  is  in  the  Talmud  a 
parable  relating  to  a  king24  who  invited  his 
servants  to  the  wedding  of  his  son;  another 
parable  very  similar  to  the  one  of  the  rich 
householder25  is  found  in  the  Palestinian  Tal- 
mud and  concerns  the  son  of  Rabbi  Hiyya. 


60  JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

The  parable  had  become  a  popular  method  of 
illustration  and  instruction  in  rabbinical 
times,  <and  still  continues  so  in  certain  Euro- 
pean Jewish  circles. 

Not  only  the  parable,  but  every  rhetorical 
form  which  Jesus  used  was  known  and  em- 
ployed by  his  contemporaries;  and  just  as  he 
was  a  child  of  his  day  in  almost  everything 
else,  so  was  he  in  his  methods  of  teaching 
and  preaching.  Perhaps  this  is  known  to 
everybody,  but  if  it  is,  then  they  who  write 
on  his  methods  ought  to  be  more  careful  in 
the  wording  used  in  their  books;  for  they 
come  so  very  dangerously  near  to  attributing 
originality  to  him  in  these  matters,  as  to  be 
almost  guilty  of  falsification.  It  is  not  our 
desire  here  to  detract  from  the  merits  of  the 
Messiah  of  the  Christians.  All  we  desire  is 
that  justice  be  done  to  Jewish  teachers  and 
Judaism,  «a  matter  about  which  many  schol- 
ars show  a  lamentable  lack  of  consideration. 
True,  he  taught  those  whom  others  did  not 
teach;  he  doubtless  expressed  himself  dif- 
ferently at  times;  he  even  might  have  told 
new  parables  and  new  stories ;  his  particulars 
were  without  a  doubt  different  from  those 
of  others.  But  what  of  this?  Did  Hillel 
speak  exactly  like  Shammai  ?  Were  the  say- 
ings of  Jochanan  ben  Zakkai,  just  like  those 
of  his  teachers?  When  one  day  he  walked 
about  the  ruins  of  the  Temple  in  Jerusalem, 
"and  one  of  his  disciples  mourned  over  its 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS  61 

destruction,  saying,  "now  that  the  Temple 
and  the  altar  of  sacrifice  are  gone,  the  means 
of  repentance  are  also  gone,"  Jochanan  an- 
swered: "Let  it  not  appear  evil  unto  you; 
there  is  still  means  of  atonement — kind  deeds 
and  charity  will  make  atonement  for  our 
sins."  And  he  is  quoted  in  the  Talmud"  also 
as  saying  that  "just  as  the  sin  offering 
atones  for  Israel,  so  the  kindness  of  the  na- 
tions atones  for  their  sins."  Perhaps  exact- 
ly such  combinations  of  ideas  had  not  been 
uttered  before  in  Israel;  yet  one  who  is  ac- 
quainted with  rabbinical  thought  and  teach- 
ings need  not  have  been  told  that  these  were 
rabbinic.  Jochanan's  way  of  putting  them 
together  might  have  been  original;  the 
thought  was  the  result  of  his  Jewish  inspir- 
ation and  education. 

One  could  write  volumes — as  Indeed  vol- 
umes have  been  written — showing  the 
breadth  of  rabbinical  thought  and  life;  one 
could  select  from  the  writings  of  the  rabbis 
enough  material  to  fill  many  shelves  of  only 
that  which  is  of  an  ethical  and  moral  charac- 
ter. There  is  no  phase  of  life  which  they  did 
not  touch ;  there  is  no  aspect  .of  the  holiness 
of  life  which  they  did  not  consider;  they 
learned  and  taught  to  live,  and  they  lived  to 
learn  and  serve;  but  their  learning  was  not 
only  of  the  theoretical  kind;  they  were  true 
to  the  motto  of  Simon,  son  of  Gamaliel,  who 
taught :  ""Not  learning,  but  doing  Is  the  chief 


62  JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

thing."  And  their  lives,  indeed,  expressed 
themselves  in  kindness  and  brotherliness  to 
their  neighbors.  They  studied  the  "Law; 
they  fulfilled  the  requirements  of  the  Tem- 
ple service  as  long  as  it  lasted,  and  they  exe- 
cuted the  commands  of  their  God  toward 
fellowmen,  thus  realizing  the  words  of  Si- 
mon, the  Just,  who  used  to  say  that  "the 
"world  was  established  upon  three  things; 
upon  the  Law,  the  ritual  or  Temple  Service, 
and  upon  the  doing  of  good  deeds."  They  ex- 
ercised those  ideals  toward  the  poor  which 
the  religion  of  Moses  and  the  prophets  had 
taught  them,  and  they  laid  stress  on  the 
words  of  Jose,  son  of  Jochanan81  of  Jerusa- 
lem, who  used  to  say,  "let  the  poor  be  as 
members  of  your  own  household."  They 
tried  to  be  just,  and  though  they  did  not 
clothe  their  thought  in  the  same  words  as 
did  another — 82" judge  not  that  ye  be  not 
judged, — they  still  were  slow  to  judge,  for 
their  motto  was,  "judge  all  men  in  the  scale 
of  merit,  yet  "judge  not  thy  neighbor  until 
thou  art  come  into  his  place;"  and  they  be- 
lieved too  ""that  with  whatever  measure  man 
judges, — with  that  measure  is  he  judged." 

It  was  among  men  who  thought  thus  that 
Jesus  was  reared — if  any  credence  can  be 
placed  in  the  gospel  story.  With  these  he 
came  in  contact  and  their  teachings  he  heard 
and  learned.  If  he  opposed  sacrifice,  and  it 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS  63 

is  not  at  all  certain  that  he  did,  he  must  have 
thought  with  many  others,  that  unless  sacri- 
fice is  sincere,  it  is  corrupting.  "There  86is  no 
atonement  for  him  who  repeats  his  sin,"  is 
not  new  to  those  who  know  what  the  rabbis 
taught,  and  this  applied  as  well  to  sacrifices 
in  the  Temple  as  to  prayers  on  Atonement 
Day.  The  words  of  ben  Zakkai  quoted  above 
bear  witness  to  the  fact  that  the  idea  that 
"mercy  and  not  sacrifice  is  important,"  was 
not  new ;  indeed  Isaiah,  Amos  and  Hosea  had 
so  taught  centuries  before,  and  the  word  of 
the  prophets37  was  by  no  means  a  dead  let- 
ter. When  Jesus  says,88  "therefore  if  thou 
bring  a  gift  to  the  altar,  and  there  remberest 
that  thy  brother  hath  aught  against  thee, 
leave  there  thy  gift  before  the  altar  and  go 
thy  way;  first  be  reconciled  to  thy  brother 
and  then  come  and  offer  thy  gift;"  he  but 
stated  in  different  words  the  thought  that 
many  of  his  contemporaries  had  uttered:39 
"The  Day  of  Atonement  will  pardon  the  sins 
that  man  has  committed  against  the  most 
High ;  but  it  will  not  pardon  those  which  man 
has  committed  against  his  neighbor  unless 
the  wrongdoer  first  seek  the  pardon  of  him 
who  has  been  wronged."  Perhaps  it  is  a 
strange  coincidence  that  this  sentiment  ap- 
pears on  the  same  page  of  the  Talmud  as 
does  the  Jewish  saying  concerning  the  Sab- 
bath, "for  the  Sabbath  is  Holy  unto  you;  it 


64  JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

was  delivered  into  your  bands,  not  you  into 
its  hands;"  to  which  the  quotation  of  Jesus, 
"the  Sabbath  was  made  for  man,  not  man  for 
the  Sabbath,"  is  a  parallel,  as  has  already 
been  pointed  out. 

It  is  stating  the  facts  incorrectly  to  say: 
4 "The  religious  ideals  of  the  age  in  which 
Jesus  lived  were  represented  by  sacrifice, 
fasting.,  tithes  and  almsgiving,  while  his  were 
judgment,  mercy  and  love  of  God;  and  after 
surveying  the  painstaking  piety  of  his  con- 
temporaries and  their  zeal  in  legal  obedience, 
he  said  plainly  to  his  disciples,  'except  your 
righteousness  shall  exceed  that  of  the 
scribes  and  Pharisees,  ye  shall  in  no  wise  en- 
ter the  Kingdom  of  Heaven.'  "  Who  the  Phar- 
isees were,  we  have  already  had  occasion  to 
say;  but  to  characterize  the  times  by  setting 
the  second  set  of  qualifications  over  against 
the  first,  and  attributing  one  set  to  Jesus,  and 
the  other  to  his  contemporaries,  is  unhistori- 
ical  and  unjust.  Is  the  dictum  of  the  Men  of 
the  Great  Synagogue,  *2"Be  ye  deliberate  in 
judgment,"  not  "judgment?"  Is  the  follow- 
ing not  judgment:  ""Upon  three  things," 
said  Simon  ben  Gamaliel,  "the  world  is  es- 
tablished: Upon  truth,  judgment  and  peace, 
as  it  is  said,  truth  and  the  judgment  of  peace, 
shall  ye  judge  in  your  gates."44  We  have  al- 
ready mentioned  the  saying  of  Hillel,  "judge 
not  thy  neighbor  until  thou  art  come  into  his 
place;"  the  words  of  Rabbi  Ishmael,  the  son 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS  65 

of  Jose,  have  a  ring  of  practical  truth  as  well 
as  religious  judgment:  45"He  who  keeps 
himself  away  from  the  judicial  office  keeps 
from  himself  hatred,  robbery  and  vain  oaths ; 
but  he  who  lays  decisions  down  presump- 
tuously, is  wicked,  foolish  and  arrogant  of 
spirit."  He  used  to  say  also,  4e" judge  not 
alone,  for  there  is  none  who  may  judge  alone, 
save  One."  In  a  passage  in  a  Midrash,  we 
find  the  following  qualifications  set  forth  for 
one  who  desires  to  be  a  judge:  *7"He  must  be 
an  able  man,  God-fearing,  a  man  of  truth, 
free  from  covetousness,  a  wise  man,  one  of 
understanding,  and  known  among  his  peo- 
ple." This,  of  course,  applies  to  an  official; 
but  the  qualifications  are  characteristic 
enough  to  show  how  much  stress  there  was 
laid  on  judgment.  These  are  only  specimens 
of  rabbinical  thought  about  "judgment." 
Many  more  could  be  cited,  and  the  field  is 
rich  for  him  who  would  search  for  them.  Our 
purpose  here  is  to  show  that  if  the  best  relig- 
ious thinkers  of  the  days  of  Jesus,  and 
those  immediately  preceding  and  succeed- 
ing him,  believed  stoutly  in  sacrifice,  fast- 
ing, tithes  and  almsgiving,  they  believed  no 
less — and  we  maintain  even  more — in  judg- 
ment, mercy  and  the  love  of  God.48  We  ought 
not  to  forget,  too,  that  aside  from  the  rab- 
binical thought,  the  tremendous  force  of  the 
Biblical  writings  was  still  effective,  and 
teachings  like  the  following  were  well  known : 


66  JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

""Blessed  are  they  that  keep  judgment,  -and 
they  who  do  righteousness  all  the  time;"  or 
the  words  of  Amos,  B0"let  justice  run  down 
as  water  and  righteousness  as  a  mighty 
stream;"  or  the  thought  of  Hosea,  51"I  be- 
troth thee  unto  me  in  righteousness,  in  judg- 
ment in  loving  kindness  and  in  mercy ;"  or  of 
Isaiah,  52"cease  to  do  evil;  learn  to  do  well, 
seek  judgment,  relieve  the  oppressed,  judge 
the  fatherless  and  plead  for  the  widow;"  or 
the  command  of  Jeremiah :  B3"Thus  saith  the 
Lord:  'Execute  ye  judgment  and  righteous- 
ness;'" or  the  great  teachings  of  Ezekiel:  " 
"He  that  hath  not  given  forth  upon  usury; 
neither  hath  taken  any  increase,  that  hath 
withdrawn  his  hand  from  iniquity,  hath  exe- 
cuted true  judgment  between  man  and  man, 
hath  walked  in  my  statutes,  and  hath  kept  in 
my  judgments  to  deal  truly,  he  is  just  and 
shall  surely  live,  said  the  Lord."  It  is  Zech- 
ariah  who  said:  B5"Thus  speaketh  the  Lord 
of  Hosts,  'execute  true  judgment  and  show 
mercy  and  compasion,  every  man  to  his 
brother ;'  "  and  it  was  Micah  who  uttered  the 
eternal  religious  truth:  66"It  hath  been  told 
thee  0  man,  what  is  good  and  what  the  Lord 
requireth  of  Thee,  but  to  do  justly,  to  love 
mercy,  and  to  walk  humbly  with  thy  God." 
These  passages,  as  will  be  seen  by  the  order 
in  which  they  were  given,  were  not  selected 
with  any  system.  They  were  picked  out  at 
random  from  the  Bible.  The  Psalms  them- 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS  67 

selves  contain  almost  ;as  many  references  to 
"judgment"  as  the  whole  New  Testament, 
and  the  reader  would  tire  many  times  if  all 
of  the  biblical  utterances  on  this  noble 
virtue  were  stated  here.  We  have  given 
enough  to  show  that  the  ideal  of  judgment 
of  which  Jesus  speaks,  was  ever  a  thoroughly 
Jewish  one,  whether  in  the  age  of  the  Bible 
or  in  the  age  of  the  rabbis.  And  it  is 
Jewish  today,  though  like  many  other  splen- 
did teachings,  its  force  and  its  influence  are 
not  always  permitted  to  direct  our  social  re- 
lations. 

The  oft-repeated  accusation  that  to  the 
Pharisees  "virtue,  like  religion,  was  primari- 
ly a  technical  affair,"  is  emphatically  not  so. 
That  the  Jew  of  rabbinic  times  knew  no  vir- 
tue aside  from  the  doing  of  the  Laws  of  God, 
that  is  true;  but  did  not  just  this  conception 
of  the  Torah  cause  him  to  live  a  life  of  fine 
social  and  ethical  largeness?  Is  it  a  fact 
that  there  was  religious  satisfaction  only  in 
the  sacrificial  rites?  When  the  Lawgiver 
said  that  ethical  laws  and  commandments 
were  given  to  Israel  which  if  they  do  them, 
they  shall  live;  the  rabbis  added,  B7"they 
shall  live  by  them  and  not  die  by  them."  For 
to  the  rabbis  the  non-fulfilling  of  the  laws  of 
righteousness  and  judgment  was  the  same  as 
spiritual  death.  Man  was  made  in  the  image 
of  God,  and  the  laws  were  given  to  him,  that 
he  may  by  his  ethical  life  preserve  in  him- 


68  JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

self  this  divine  image.  We  are  told  that 
when  Moses  said  to  the  people,  B8 "after  the 
Lord,  your  God  shall  ye  walk";  they  took 
alarm  at  the  impossible  task  laid  before  them 
and  asked:  "How  is  it  possible  for  man  to 
walk  after  God!"  And  Moses  explained  to 
them,  5athat  "to  walk  after  God  means  to  imi- 
tate humbly  His  mercy  and  compassion,  by 
clothing  the  naked,  visiting  the  sick,  burying 
the  dead,  and  comforting  the  mourners." 
Listen  to  this  sublime  though  rabbinically 
commonplace  thought  from  the  mouths  of 
teachers  who  lived  in  a  day  when  it  is  alleg- 
ed that  legalism  had  strangled  the  sensibili- 
ties to  mercy  and  righteousness:  60"In  the 
world  to  come,  the  righteous  will  stand  high- 
er than  the  angels!" 

One  who  knows  something  of  the  life  and 
the  teachings  of  the  rabbis  cannot  fail  to  re- 
gard with  much  pain  the  broad  mis  state- 
ments that  are  made  by  those  who  know 
little  or  nothing  of  the  rabbinical  ideals.  It 
is  true  that  these  ideals  cannot  be  placed 
within  the  limits  of  one  or  two  centuries. 
They  were  in  fact  the  accumulated  religious 
culture  of  several  centuries,  covering  not  only 
the  period  preceding  and  following  the  close 
of  the  Testaments,  but  extending  down  to 
the  closing  of  the  Talmud  in  the  end  of  the 
fifth  century  and  even  to  our  day. 

Here  are  some  of  the  "legalistic"  thoughts 
in  which  justice,  mercy,  love  and  kindness 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS  69 

are  supposed  to  have  "found  no  place:"  Rab- 
bi Simla!  said  that  the  ""beginning  and  the 
end  of  the  Torah" — that  is  the  religion  of  Is- 
rael— "is  the  doing  of  deeds  of  loving  kind- 
ness." Others  said :  02"He  who  refuses  to  do  a 
kind  deed  is  like  one  who  denies  a  principle 
of  religion."  68"The  doing  of  good  deeds  is 
greater  even  than  pure  justice.  "Love  man- 
kind and  honor  it  and  bend  your  will  with  re- 
spect to  your  neighbors  for  the  social  good." 
Commenting  on  the  verse,  ""He  is  my  God 
and  I  will  prepare  Him  a  habitation,"  Abba 
Shaul  said:  "The  meaning  of  this  last  word 
according  to  its  Hebrew  thought,  is,  'be 
like  Him ;'  6Gas  He  is  merciful  and  compas- 
sionate, so  be  ye  merciful  and  compassion- 
ate." Simon  ben  Lachish  said:  ""Whosoever 
exercises  mercy  in  a  place  of  wickedness,  will 
find  in  the  end  that  that  place  itself  will  ex- 
ercise mercy."  The  rabbis  teach  us  that  if 
we  98"shower  mercy  upon  each  other,  God 
will  shower  mercy  upon  us."  Do  these 
thoughts  sound  as  if  they  come  from  men 
whose  only  concern  was  the  execution  of  the 
ceremonial  Law  in  all  its  "labyrinthic"  detail  ? 
The  following  teachings  will  seem  strange 
and  perhaps  unaccountable  to  those  who  are 
in  the  habit  of  accepting  as  truthful,  many 
of  the  current  descriptions  of  Pharisaical 
and  rabbinical  life  and  religion.  For  it  has 
become  an  obsession  with  not  a  few,  that 
charity  and  mercy  were  brought  into  social 


70  JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

life  only  with  the  coming  of  the  teacher  of 
Nazareth.  It  is  true  that  the  greater  num- 
ber of  these  teachings  have  no  definite  date; 
they  do  not  need  it  to  authenticate  them,  for 
they  have  become  part  and  parcel  of  Jewish 
life.  This  one  is  characteristic:  89"Charity, 
alone,"  says  Rav  Assi,  "is  equivalent  to  all 
the  commandments."  70Rabbi  Eliezer  said: 
"Greater  is  the  doing  of  a  deed  of  charity 
than  all  the  sacrifices."  "The  poor  man  who 
receives  charity  does  more  for  the  giver  than 
the  giver  does  for  the  receiver."  This  is  the 
idea  of  Rabbi  Joshua  ben  Korcho  who  said: 
71"Whoever  turns  away  from  charity,  is  like 
one  who  worpships  idols;"  and  those  who 
know  with  what  deep  contempt  the  rabbis 
looked  upon  the  idolaters,  can  understand 
well  the  meaning  of  these  words.  72Rabbi 
Yitschak  said  that  "he  who  gives  a  little 
money  to  the  poor  is  blessed  with  six  bless- 
ings; but  he  who  gives  encouragement  by 
kind  words,  is  blessed  with  eleven."  73"And 
it  was  the  irascible  Resh  Lakesh  who  taught : 
"If  you  haven't  any  money  to  give  to  the  poor, 
comfort  him  with  words,  and  say  to  him, 
'my  heart  is  with  you,  though  I  have  nothing 
to  give  you/ '  Many  anecdotes  are  told  of 
the  tenderness  with  which  the  poor  were 
treated,  and  the  following  anecdote  must 
appeal  strongly  to  those  who  have  achieved 
refinement  of  heart.  74Rabbi  Jannai  once  saw 
a  man  give  a  beggar  a  coin  in  public.  He  re- 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS  71 

buked  the  giver  mildly  for  giving  in  public 
and  thus  causing  embarrassment,  saying,  "it 
would  have  been  better  if  you  had  not  given 
him  anything,  rather  than  help  him  publicly, 
and  thus  put  him  to  shame."  It  was  "Rabbi 
Eliezer  of  whom  we  have  already  learned 
something,  who  had  the  courage  to  say  that 
"he  who  gives  charity  is  greater  than 
Moses."  And  Moses  was  the  greatest  of  all 
Israel.  And  this  same  sage  taught  that 
""everyone  who  acts  justly  and  charitably, 
acts  as  if  he  fills  the  whole  world  with  mer- 
cy." This  idea  reminds  one  of  another  well- 
known  thought,  namely:  ""Every  man  can 
make  himself  a  partner  with  God  in  Creation 
by  judging  in  accordance  with  His  ethical 
Laws."  One  of  the  finest  of  rabbinical  utter- 
ances which  bears  eloquent  testimony  to  the 
breadth  of  the  rabbinical  conception  of  life  is 
this:  7S"Our  rabbis  taught  that  we  should 
help  the  non-Jewish  poor  with  the  Jewish 
poor;  that  we  should  visit  the  non-Jewish 
sick  with  the  Jewish  sick ;  and  that  we  should 
bury  the  non-Jewish  dead  with  the  Jewish 
dead,  so  that  the  ends  of  peace  may  be  pre- 
served." Wihen  one  speaks  of  the  narrow 
nationalism  of  the  ancient  Jew,  or  even  the 
modern  Jew,  it  is  well  to  recall  a  sentiment 
like  this,  to  remind  us  that  there  were  ideals 
which  stood  higher  than  "Jewish  national- 
ism," and  that  one  of  these  was  peace.  But 
peace  was  not  the  only  concept  that  was  to 


72  JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

unite  all  mankind.  Righteousness  no  less  than 
peace,  was  one  of  the  fibers  in  the  cord  of 
universalism.  Here  is  a  well  defined  and  al- 
most universally  accepted  principle  among 
the  ancient  and  modern  Jews:  79"The  right- 
eous 'of  all  nations  will  have  a  portion  in  the 
world  to  come."  What  a  wonderful  concep- 
tion this  is  when  contrasted  with  the  narrow 
dogmatism  of  today,  which  requires  not  only 
adhesion  to,  or  confession  of  some  particular 
creed,  but  demands  even  the  death  rites,  be- 
fore the  hope  of  a  future  life  can  be  extend- 
ed. Truly  in  this  remarkable  rabbinical  dic- 
tum there  is  a  breadth  of  sentiment  and  a 
largeness  of  human  feeling  which  are  over- 
whelming when  compared  with  the  sectarian 
bigotry  and  inhuman  narrowness  of  relig- 
ious parties  and  some  religious  "self-authen- 
ticated truths."  In  all  sincerity,  should 
many  -of  us  not  blush  before  the  beauty  of 
some  of  these  religious  gems  of  the  old  Jew- 
ish teachers? 

It  is  somewhat  tiring,  perhaps  very  much 
so,  to  read  thought  after  thought  from  minds 
that  flourished  centuries  ago.  But  this  would 
not  be  necessary  were  it  not  for  the  continu- 
al exposition  of  the  ideas  and  sayings  of 
another  who  lived  just  as  far  back,  who 
drank  at  the  fountain  of  the  knowledge 
whence  our  quotations  emanate,  but  whose 
followers  fail  to  do  justice  to  the  teachers  of 
the  teacher.  We  should  perhaps  have  been 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS  73 

content  to  let  the  gems  of  the  rabbinical 
writings  lay  hidden  in  the  unexplored  tomes ; 
we  should  have  been  content  to  let  the  pearls 
lie  buried  in  the  sea  of  the  Talmud ;  but  ar- 
rogance awakens  in  us  opposition;  and  acad- 
emic injustice,  especially  to  his  faith  and  to 
his  teachers,  is  a  challenge  to  the  Jew.  We 
were  long  ago  aware  of  our  treasures;  now 
that  others  claim  or  deny  them,  we  ought 
to  assert  our  ownership  before  those  who  do 
not  know  of  it.  It  is  a  sting  to  be  told  that 
Jesus  was  the  first  to  preach  a  "higher  right- 
eousness," in  the  face  of  all  the  teachings  of 
the  sages  and  the  rabbis.  Like  other  teach- 
ers, there  were  certain  elements  of  conduct 
that  he  stressed,  but  what  teacher  had  not 
his  individuality?  In  one  respect  perhaps 
there  was  a  decisive  difference  between  the 
righteousness  that  Jesus  preached  and  that 
which  was  current  both  before  and  after  him. 
The  rabbinical  righteousness  was  a  "this 
world  righteousness"  par  excellence,  though 
they  too,  had  an  "other  world."  The  right- 
eousness of  Jesus  stressed  the  preparation  of 
the  individual  for  the  coming  of  the  "other 
world."  Both  are  Jewish,  pre-eminently;  both 
serve  their  purpose.  But  it  is  neither  the 
"righteousness"  of  this  world  nor  that  of  the 
world  to  come,  that  will  undervalue  the  one, 
to  enhance  the  worth  of  the  other;  and  this 
is  being  done  by  the  Christian  scholars.  In 
this  connection  we  may  quote  a  saying  which, 


74  JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

though  a  little  severe,  does  yet  apply. 
80Ben  Zoma  asks,  "Who  is  the  real  hero?" 
And  he  answers  that  "he  is  the  hero,  who 
conquers  his  evil  nature;  but  there  are  oth- 
ers who  say  that  he  is  the  real  hero  who 
turns  hatred  into  love." 

There  is  a  great  temptation  to  continue 
the  citation  of  references,  showing  that  Jesus 
was  not  the  only  one  who  gave  his81  message 
boldly,  and  looked  at  the  world  with  a  fresh 
and  a  clear  eye  for  the  life,  great  and  small, 
which  surrounded  him.  There  were  many 
who  taught:  82"Hate  no  man,  and  reject  no 
thing  for  there  is  no  man  without  his  hour, 
and  there  is  no  thing  without  its  use."  There 
were  some  who  believed  that  the  most  im- 
portant sentence  in  the  Bible  is  the  verse: 
8S"This  is  the  generation  of  man,  in  the 
image  of  God,  made  He  him."  One  teacher 
said  that  this  is  the  great  principle  in  the 
Torah,  in  the  Law,  because  it  refers  to  all 
mankind  which  was  made  in  the  image  of 
God,  rather  than  one  part  of  it.  The  sages, 
too,  loved  life,  though  they  would  eagerly 
qualify  it  by  the  word  "righteous."  And 
they  taught  84"that  every  human  being  is 
commanded  to  believe  that  the  world  was 
created  for  his  sake."  What  a  responsibility 
such  a  thought  throws  upon  us!  What  a 
world  this  would  be  if  every  man  acted  so 
that  he  indeed  felt  that  the  very  existence  of 
this  earth  depends  on  him !  What  a  tribute 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS  75 

to  human  worth  and  human  dignity!  What 
a  lesson  in  the  valuations  of  life  we  could 
learn  from  this  thought, — we  who  live  in  an 
age  of  irreverence,  carelessness,  and  disre- 
gard for  the  most  sacred  thing  in  the  uni- 
verse— human  life!  Let  it  be  known  that 
the  rabbinical  writings  breathe  a  tender  love 
for  God  and  His  creation ;  that  the  rabbis  re- 
garded the  doer  of  charity  as  higher  even 
than  Moses,  and  that  to  them,  mercy  sustain- 
ed life  and  righteousness  pillared  the  earth. 
No  wonder  that  the  Jew  who  knows  his  lit- 
erature, speaks  of  the  sages  and  rabbis  with 
touching  reverence  and  religious  deference. 
If  85the  world  exists  for  the  sake  of  even  a 
single  righteous  man,  as  the  rabbis  were 
wont  to  say,  how  much  the  more  should  it 
have  existed  for  the  sake  of  hundreds  of 
righteous  teachers  who  lived,  taught  and 
died  that  mankind  may  prove  itself  worthy 
of  having  been  made  in  the  image  of  the  Al- 
mighty ! 

We  have  endeavored  thus  far  to  give  the 
reader  an  idea  of  the  religious  thought  of  the 
teachers  of  Israel,  expressed  in  the  Talmud 
and  Midrashim.86  It  may  be  urged  that  this 
literature  can  be  no  criterion  of  the  religious 
ideals  of  the  Jews  of  the  time  of  Jesus,  as  it 
is  not  contemporaneous  with  his  time.  This 
objection  is  only  partly  true.  For  it  must 
not  be  forgotten  that  the  New  Testament  it- 
self covers  a  period  of  almost  two  centuries. 


76  JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

Both  the  Talmud  and  the  Midrashim,  while 
collected  late,  contain  portions  earlier  by 
several  centuries  than  the  writings  of  the 
New  Testament,  and  in  many  are  contempor- 
aneous and  later.  It  is  not  necessary  here  to 
go  into  >a  lengthy  study  of  the  sages  who  liv- 
ed immediately  after  Jesus.  One  can  find 
this  in  any  "Introduction  to  the  Talmud.  But 
we  may  indicate  here  only  this :  The  Talmud 
and  Midrash  contain  the  best  thoughts  of 
those  of  Israel's  sages  who  lived  in  the  first 
century  before  and  in  the  immediate  centur- 
ies following  the  rise  of  the  New  Testament 
— in  that  very  period  which  non-Jewish 
scholars  are  'accustomed  to  look  upon  as  be- 
ing the  most  barren  of  truly  religious  teach- 
ings and  practice.  What  these  sages  taught 
is  generally  given  in  their  names  in  these 
two  great  sources,  so  that  we  can  very  easily 
place  their  teachings  and  their  contributions 
where  they  belong  in  the  history  of  Judaism 
and  Jewish  life.  While  the  teachers  and  the 
thoughts  we  have  just  quoted  may  not  be 
precisely  contemporary  with  Jesus  and  the 
Apostles,  they  yet  fall  within  a  period  that 
is  contemporaneous  with  the  rise  of  the  New 
Testament  traditions. 

But  there  is  also  another  literature 
which  dates  back  from  about  the  time  of 
Jesus,  and  which  gives  us  a  very  definite  idea 
of  the  ideals  and  thoughts  which  surged 
through  the  minds  of  the  Jewish  thinkers  of 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS  77 

those  days.  Most  of  this  literature  was 
written  during  the  period  which  extends 
from  just  before  the  closing  of  the  Old  Tes- 
tament to  the  rise  of  the  New ;  and  from  this 
literature  too, — the  apocryphal  and  the  apo- 
calyptic or  pseudepigraphic — the  newer 
canon  received  a  decisive  influence.  It  is 
impossible  to  go  into  details  here,  and  the 
major  works  will  hardly  be  more  than 
named,  though  it  shall  be  our  purpose  to 
quote  enough  from  the  better  known  ones, 
to  show  that  not  only  was  a  higher  righteous- 
ness known  and  taught  two  centuries  before 
Jesus,  but  in  his  very  day  he  breathed  in  the 
self-same  teachings  which  some  credit  to 
him  alone  at  the  expense  of  Judaism  in  gen- 
eral. The  scope  of  this  work  precludes  a 
study  of  the  religious  thought  of  such  works 
as  the  Book  of  Enoch,  the  Book  of  Ecclesias- 
ticus,  the  Wisdom  of  Solomon,  The  Testa- 
ment of  the  Twelve  Patriarchs.  The  Book  of 
Jubilees,  and  those  of  lesser  importance,  like 
the  Assumption  of  Moses,  the  Ascension  of 
Isaiah,  the  Apocalypse  of  Baruch,  the  Book 
of  Judith,  Tobit,  Testament  of  Job,  and 
many  others,  all  of  which  had  a  strong  influ- 
ence on  the  various  books  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment, as  stated  in  an  earlier  chapter.  That 
the  reader  may  judge  for  himself  whether 
or  not  righteousness  and  mercy  played  a 
great  part  in  Jewish  life  before  the  rise  of 
the  teachings  of  Jesus,  we  will  submit  some 


78  JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

evidence. 

"The  influence  of  the  Book  of  Enoch  on 
the  New  Testament  has  been  greater  than 
all  the  apocryphal  and  pseudepigraphical 
books  taken  together."  This  is  the  remark 
of  a  scholar88  who  stands  without  a  superior 
in  the  world  of  scholarship  pertaining  to  that 
particular  period.  There  are  over  a  hundred 
references  in  the  New  Testament  which 
either  repeat  or  are  directly  dependent  on 
passages  in  Enoch,  and  in  these  references 
are  included  some  of  the  most  important 
ethical  teachings  of  the  New  Testament  as 
well  as  the  idea  and  names  of  the  Messiah, 
the  conception  of  Sheol  and  the  resurrection, 
and  that  of  demonology. 

But  we  are  concerned  less  with  dogma 
than  with  the  social  and  ethical  aspect  of 
these  ancient  works.  And  it  is  these  that  we 
want  to  emphasize  in  the  small  space  that 
we  are  able  to  give  to  this  important  litera- 
ture. 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS  79 

CHAPTER  III. 
Apocryphal  and  Pseudepigraphic  Ideals. 

The  'Book  of  Enoch  is  what  we  have  left 
of  a  literature  which  was  gathered  together 
under  the  name  of  this  son  of  Jared.  It  is 
apocalyptic  in  character  and  deals  with  the 
problems  of  suffering,  reward  and  punish- 
ment. The  content  of  the  book, — it  is  com- 
posite, and  not  at  all  the  work  of  the  same 
author, — consists  of  the  story  of  the  visions 
and  the  translation  of  Enoch  into  the  abode 
of  God  and  the  angels,  and  the  knowledge 
gained  during  these  visits.  The  collection 
belongs  to  the  second  and  first  centuries  be- 
fore the  Christian  era  and  represents  the  re- 
ligious thought  of  the  Chasidic  or  Pharisaic 
sect.  It  deals  in  the  main  with  the  contra- 
diction between  the  promise  that  the  right- 
ous  will  be  rewarded,  and  the  actuality  in 
life — the  repeated  prosperity  and  the  appar- 
rent  success  of  the  wicked.  Throughout  the 
whole  book,  with  the  exception  of  one  section 
which  is  a  sort  of  astronomical  treatise, — 
constant  stress  is  laid  upon  righteousness; 
and  prayers  and  appeals  for  righteousness 
are  made  by  the  author.  It  is  true  that  a  re- 
ward to  the  righteous  is  promised,  but  it  is 
the  same  reward  that  is  promised  in  the  New 
Testament — that  of  the  inheritance  of  the 


80  JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

messianic  era  or  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven. 
They  who  w<ant  to  inherit  final  glory  must 
make  themselves  worthy  'of  it  by  living 
righteously,  even  though  they  be  the  Gen- 
tiles, who  in  the  end  are  to  be  converted.  It 
was  because  the  fallen  angels  taught  man- 
kind wickedness  that  they  were  to  be  pun- 
ished with  an  everlasting  punishment,  and 
in  this  will  they  too,  be  included,  who  will 
follow  in  their  unrighteous  ways. 

The  book  is  thus  introduced:  2"The  words 
of  the  blessing  of  Enoch  wherewith  he 
blessed  the  elect  and  the  righteous,  who  will 
be  living  in  the  day  of  tribulation  when  all 
the  wicked  and  godless  are  to  be  removed." 
3Enoch  tells  of  the  vision  in  which  he  sees 
the  Holy  and  Great  One  come  forth  from  his 
dwelling  with  His  hosts;  how  every  one  will 
be  smitten  with  fear,  how  the  angels  and  the 
earth  will  tremble,  and  how  the  mountains 
will  shake  and  the  hills  will  melt  like  wax; 
how  the  earth  will  be  rent,  and  everything 
on  it  destroyed;  and  how  everything  will  be 
judged;  but  to  the  righteous,  "He  will  give 
peace,  and  He  will  protect  the  elect,  and 
grace  will  be  upon  them,  and  they  will  all 
belong  to  God,  and  it  will  be  well  with  them, 
and  they  will  be  blessed,  and  the  light  of 
God  will  shine  upon  them."  *  *  *  4"But  as  for 
you,  ye  have  not  continued  steadfast,  and  the 
Law  of  the  Lord  have  ye  not  fulfilled  but 
have  transgressed  it,  and  have  slanderously 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS  81 

spoken  proud  and  hard  words  with  your  im- 
pure mouth  against  His  greatness — 0  ye 
hard-hearted  ye  will  find  no  peace.  But  for 
the  elect  there  will  be  light  and  joy  and 
peace,  and  they  will  inherit  the  earth;  but 
upon  you,  ye  ungodly,  there  will  be  execra- 
tion." 

In  the  next  section  God  is  represented  as 
telling  His  angels  to  remove  the  forces  of 
wickedness.  To  one  of  these  He  says:  B"And 
destroy  all  the  lustful  souls,  and  the  children 
of  the  watchers,  because  they  have  oppress- 
ed mankind.  Destroy  all  oppression  from 
the  face  of  the  earth  and  let  every  evil  work 
come  to  an  end;  and  the  plant  of  righteous- 
ness and  uprightness  will  be  established  in 
joy  forever  more.  And  in  those  days  will 
the  whole  earth  be  tilled  in  righteousness, 
and  will  all  be  planted  with  trees,  and  be  full 
of  blessings.  And  cleanse  thou  the  earth 
from  all  oppression,  and  from  all  unright- 
eousness and  from  all  sin,  and  from  all  god- 
lessness,  and  from  all  uncleanliness  which  is 
wrought  upon  the  earth ;  "and  all  the  children 
of  men  shall  become  righteous.  *  *  *  And  the 
earth  will  be  cleansed  from  all  corruption  and 
from  all  sin,  and  from  all  punishment  and 
torment,  and  I  will  never  again  send  them 
upon  it,  from  generation  to  generation,  for- 
ever. Teace  and  justice  will  be  wedded 
throughout  all  the  days  of  the  world  and 
throughout  all  the  generations  of  the  world." 


82  JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

Then  follows:  "And  now  my  son,  "Methuse- 
lah, call  to  me  all  thy  brothers,  and  gather 
together  to  me  all  the  sons  of  thy  mother  * 
*  *  and  he  conversed  with  all  the  children  of 
righteousness  and  spake:  'Hear  ye  sons  of 
Enoch,  all  the  words  of  your  father  and 
hearken  befittingly;  *  *  *  for  I  exhort  and 
say  unto  you,  beloved,  love  uprightness  and 
walk  therein  and  draw  not  nigh  to  upright- 
ness with  a  double  heart;  walk  In  righteous- 
ness my  sons,  and  it  shall  guide  you  on  good 
paths,  and  righteousness  will  be  your  com- 
panion." ' 

9"0,  that  mine  eyes  were  a  cloud  of  water 
that  I  might  weep  over  you  and  shed  my 
tears  as  a  cloud  of  water  *  *  *  Who  has  per- 
mitted you  to  practice  hate  and  wickedness? 
May  judgment  light  upon  you,  sinners  *  *  * 
10Woe  to  you  who  fulminate  irreversible  ana- 
themas :  Healing  shall  therefore  be  far  from 
you  on  account  of  your  sins.  Woe  to  you 
who  requite  your  neighbor  with  evil,  for  you 
will  be  requited  according  to  your  works. 
Woe  to  you,  lying  witnesses,  and  to  those  who 
weigh  out  injustice,  for  suddenly  will  you 
perish.  Woe  to  you  sinners,  for  ye  persecute 
the  righteous;  for  ye  will  be  delivered  up 
and  persecuted,  ye  people  of  injustice,  heavy 
will  their  yoke  be  upon  you." 

""Woe  to  you  obstinate  of  heart,  Who  work 
wickedness  and  eat  blood;  *  *  *  ye  indeed 
shall  have  no  peace.  Woe  to  you  who  love 
the  deeds  of  unrighteousness;  wherefore  do 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS  83 

ye  hope  for  good  hap  unto  yourselves?  *  *  * 
Woe  to  you  who  write  down  lying  and  god- 
less words;  for  they  write  down  their  lies 
that  men  may  hear  them  and  transgress 
against  their  neighbor.  Therefore,  they  will 
have  no  peace  but  will  die  a  sudden  death. 
Woe  to  them  who  act  godlessly  and  glory  in 
lying  words  and  extol  them;  *  *  *  woe  to 
them  who  pervert  the  words  of  uprightness 
and  transgress  the  eternal  Law,  and  trans- 
form themselves  into  what  they  were  not, 
that  is,  sinners." 

i::"But  in  those  days  blessed  are  all  they 
who  accept  the  words  of  wisdom  and  under- 
stand them,  and  follow  out  the  paths  of  the 
Most  High,  and  walk  in  the  paths  of  His 
righteousness,  and  become  not  godless  with 
the  godless ;  for  they  will  be  saved.  Woe  to 
you  who  hope  for  misfortune  to  your  neigh- 
bor ;  for  you  will  be  slain  in  Sheol.  Woe  to  you 
who  make  deceitful  and  false  measures,  and 
who  tempt  others  on  the  earth ;  for  they  will 
thereby  be  utterly  consumed.  Woe  to  you 
who  build  your  houses  through  the  grievous 
toil  of  others,  and  their  buildmg  material  is 
nothing  save  bricks  and  stones  of  sin;  I  tell 
you  ye  will  have  no  peace  *  *  *  Woe  to  them 
who  work  unrighteousness  and  aid  oppression 
and  slay  their  neighbors  until  the  day  of  the 
great  judgment.  For  He  will  cast  down  your 
glory  and  bring  affliction  on  your  hearts, 
and  will  arouse  the  spirit  of  indignation  to 
detetroy  you  all  with  the  swojrd,  and  the 


84  JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

righteous  and  holy  will  remember  your  sins." 
13"And  now  I  say  unto  you  my  sons,  love 
righteousness  and  walk  therein;  for  the 
paths  of  righteousness  are  worthy  of  accep- 
tation but  the  paths  of  unrighteousness  are 
suddenly  destroyed  and  vanish.  And  now  I 
say  unto  you,  the  righteous,  walk  not  in  the 
path  of  wickedness,  nor  on  the  paths  of  death, 
and  draw  not  nigh  unto  them  lest  you  be 
destroyed.  But  seek  and  choose  for  your- 
selves righteousness  and  a  holy  life,  and  walk 
in  the  path  of  peace  that  you  may  live  and 
prosper." 

Many  other  passages  could  be  cited  to  show 
that  the  aim  of  the  authors  of  this  collection 
was  to  instill  into  the  lives  of  those  who 
might  read  them  a  desire  for  righteousness. 
"To  lead  a  righteous  life  is  the  burden  of  the 
whole  literature,  and  its  message  covered  all 
the  social  relations.  It  included  justice, 
mercy,  love,  honesty  and  kindness;  and 
strange  to  say,  there  is  a  marked  absence  of 
reference  to  sacrifice.  For  the  authors  of 
Enoch  placed  mercy,  justice  &nd  kindness 
above  this,  just  as  did  most  of  the  best  and 
the  greatest  of  Israel's  sons. 

"Another  Jewish  work  which  had  decisive 
influence  upon  the  teachings  of  the  New 
Testament,  though  an  earlier  work  than 
Enoch,  is  the  Book  of  Ecclesiasticus,  or  the 
Wisdom  of  Jesus,  "Son  of  Sirach,  and  known 
by  the  shorter  name  of  Ben  Sirach.  This 
book  was  held  in  great  esteem  by  both  Jews 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS  85 

and  Christians  and  was  even  looked  upon 
as  canonical.  Its  date  is  set  at  about  170-190 
before  the  Christian  era,  and  the  work  is  a 
collection  of  maxims  and  precepts  reflecting 
to  a  large  degree  the  Jewish  thought  of  that 
period.  It  is  very  similar  to  the  canonical 
book  of  Proverbs,  and  not  at  all  inferior  to  it 
in  depth  of  thought  and  largeness  of  human 
experience.  The  author  of  this  remarkable 
production  does  not  condemn  sacrifice,  but 
he  does  condemn  very  strongly  that  kind  of 
religion  which  is  hypocritical,  oppressive  of 
the  poor,  and  devoid  of  charity.  He  insists 
that  a  good  heart  is  a  necessary  element  in 
religion,  and  throughout  the  book  there  is  an 
insistence  on  rigiht-heartedness.  He  com- 
mands reverence  for  the  priests,  fear  of  God. 
and  'honor  for  His  ministers,  but  these  can- 
not be  had  except  in  righteousness,  sincerity 
and  goodness ;  indeed  if  we  desire  the  "com- 
plete blessings  of  God,  one's  hands  must  be 
stretched  out  unto  the  poor. 

One  can  find  in  these  fifty-one  chapters 
much  material  of  a  surprisingly  fine  charac- 
ter, considering  the  early  date  of  the  work, 
and  what  is  generally  said  about  the  Juda- 
ism of  that  day.  Its  parallels  to  both  the  Old 
and  the  New  Testaments  are  numerous,  and 
many  of  its  details  are  of  so  high  a  charac- 
ter that  one  wonders  why  the  book  was  ex- 
cluded from  the  Bible.  It  is  one  of  the  most 
fruitful  sources  of  the  New  Testament.  The 
passages  which  follow  deal  with  the  funda- 


86  JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

mental  precepts  of  social  life,  and  are  abund- 
ant evidence  that  what  we  today  regard  as 
the  essence  of  religion  and  social  conduct, 
did  not  have  its  birth  in  the  New  Canon. 

Here  ore  some  precepts  from  this  work : 

""Do  no  evil,  so  shall  no  harm  come  to  thee. 
Depart  from  the  unjust,  and  iniquity  shall 
turn  away  from  thee. 

19In  no  wise  speak  against  the  truth,  but 
be  abashed  of  the  error  of  ignorance. 

20Strive  for  the  truth  unto  death,  and  the 
Lord  will  strive  for  thee.  Be  not  violent  with 
the  tongue.  Be  not  as  a  lion  in  thy  house, 
nor  frantic  among  thy  servants. 

21Let  not  thy  hand  be  stretched  out  to  re- 
ceive, and  shut  when  thou  shouldst  repay. 

22Seek  not  to  be  judged,  being  not  able  to 
take  away  iniquity ;  lest  at  any  time  thou  fear 
the  person  of  the  mighty,  and  lay  a  stumb- 
ling block  in  the  way  of  thy  righteousness. 

Be  not  faint-hearted  when  thou  makest 
thy  prayer,  and  neglect  not  to  give  alms. 
Laugh  no  man  to  scorn  in  the  bitterness  of 
his  soul,  for  there  is  One  which  humbleth 
and  exalteth.  Devise  not  a  lie  against  thy 
brother;  neither  do  the  like  to  thy  friend. 
Be  unwilling  to  speak  any  lie  at  all.  And 
stretch  thine  hand  out  to  the  poor  that  thy 
blessings  may  be  perfected. 

23Fail  not  to  be  with  them  that  weep,  and 
mourn  with  them  that  mourn.  Be  not  slow 
to  visit  the  sick  for  that  shall  make  thee  to 
be  beloved. 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS  87 

24Envy  not  the  glory  of  a  sinner,  for  thou 
knowest  not  what  shall  be  the  end.  Delight 
not  in  the  thing  that  the  ungodly  have  a 
pleasure  in,  but  remember  they  shall  not  go 
unpunished  into  their  graves. 

25And  he  said  unto  them,  'men  beware  of 
all  unrighteousness ;'  and  he  gave  every  com- 
mandment regarding  his  neighbor. 

"Return  unto  the  Lord  and  forsake  thy 
sins;  make  thy  prayer  before  His  face,  and 
offend  less.  Turn  again  to  the  most  High 
and  turn  away  from  iniquity  for  He  will  lead 
thee  out  of  darkness  into  the  light  of  health ; 
and  hate  thou  abomination  vehemently.  How 
great  is  the  loving  kindness  of  the  Lord,  and 
His  compassion  to  such  as  turn  to  Him. 

27A  man  that  breaketh  wedlock,  saying 
thus  in  his  heart,  'who  seeth  me?  I  am  com- 
passed about  with  darkness,  the  walls  cover 
me.  What  need  I  fear.  The  Most  High 
will  not  remember  my  sins/  This  man  shall 
be  punished  in  the  streets  of  the  city,  and 
where  he  suspecteth  not,  he  shall  be  taken. 
Thus  shall  it  go  with  the  wife  that  leaveth 
her  husband,  and  bringeth  in  an  heir  by 
another." 

We  have  often  heard  the  statement  that 
with  the  advent  of  the  newer  dispensation, 
only,  was  man  taught  to  forgive  his  enemies ; 
and  what  preacher  has  not  delighted  to  quote 
the  words  of  Matthew,  28"ye  have  heard  it 
said  that  thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  and 
hate  thine  enemy.  But  I  say  unto  you,  love 


88  JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

your  enemies,  bless  them  that  curse  you,  do 
good  to  them  that  hate  you,  and  pray  for 
them  which  despitefully  use  you  and  perse- 
cute you."  Without  detracting  from  these 
words  but  only  to  show  that  they  were  com- 
monly Jewish  thoughts  and  not  original  in  the 
gospels,  I  quote  the  few  following  verses : 

29"He  that  revengeth  shall  find  vengeance 
from  the  Lord. 

And  he  will  surely  keep  his  sin  in  remem- 
brance. 

Forgive  to  thy  neighbor  an  injustice, 
And  then  thy  sins  also  shall  be  forgiven, 
when  thou  prayest. 

S00ne  beareth  hatred  against  another, 
And  doth  he  seek  pardon  from  the  Lord? 
He  hath  not  mercy  on  a  man  like  himself, 
And  doth  he  ask  forgiveness  for  his  own 
sins? 

If  he  that  is  but  flesh  nourisheth  hatred, 
Who  will  entreat  for  pardon  for  his  sins? 
Remember  thy  end,  and  let  enmity  cease, 
Remember  the  commandments,  and  cher- 
ish not  resentment  against  thy  neighbor, 

Remember  corruption\  and  death,  and 
abide  in  the  commandments. 

Remember  the  covenant  of  the  Highest, 
and  overlook  a  fault." 

One  could  cite  many  similar  quotations 
showing  what  high  ideals  the  Jews  of  those 
centuries  had.  The  writer  of  these  sayings 
seems  to  have  been  a  representative  of  a 
large  class  which  believed  and  taught  as  he 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS  89 

did ;  he  was  not  an  isolated  teacher.  But  quo- 
tations are  tedious,  no  matter  how  effective 
they  would  be  in  disillusioning  so  many,  of 
the  alleged  faults  which  are  attributed  to  the 
Jews  of  pre-New  Testament  days.  Yet  at  the 
risk  of  this  tediousness,  we  present  a  few 
more  thoughts  of  this  work  concerning  con- 
duct towards  each  other. 

""Yet  have  thou  patience  with  a  man  in 
poor  estate, 

And  delay  not  to  show  him  mercy. 

Help  the  poor  for  the  commandment's 
sake, 

And  turn  him  not  away  because  of  his 
poverty. 

Lose  thy  money  for  the  sake  of  thy 
brother  and  thy  friend  *  *  * 

And  let  it  not  rust  under  the  stone  to  be 
lost. 

Shut  up  alms  for  benevolent  purposes  in 
thy  storehouses, 

And  it  shall  deliver  thee  from  all  ill-for- 
tune. 

It  shall  fight  for  thee  against  thine  ene- 
mies, 

Better  than  a  mighty  sword  and  a  strong 
spear. 

"Sacrificing  what  is  wrongfully  gotten  is 
an  offering  of  mockery, 

And  the  mockeries  of  unjust  men  are  not 
accepted. 

The  most  High  is  not  pleased  with  the  of- 
ferings of  the  wicked, 


90  JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

Neither  is  He  propitiated  for  sin  by  the 
multitude  of  sacrifices. 

Whoso  bringeth  an  offering  of  the  goods 
of  the  poor, 

Doeth  as  one  who  killeth  the  son  before 
the  father's  eyes. 

The  bread  of  the  needy  is  their  life, 

He  that  defraudeth  him  of  it,  is  a  man  of 
blood. 

He  that  taketh  away  his  neighbor's  liv- 
ing slayeth  him, 

And  he  that  defraudeth  the  laborer  of 
his  hire,  is  a  blood-shedder. 

33Do  not  think  to  corrupt  (God)  with  gifts, 
for  such  He  will  not  receive ; 

And  trust  'not  unrighteous  sacrifices, 

For  the  Lord  is  judge, 

And  with  Him  is  no  respect  of  persons. 

He  will  not  accept  any  person  against  a 
poor  man, 

And  He  will  hear  the  prayer  of  him  that 
is  wronged, 

He  will  not  overlook  the  supplication  of 
an  orphan, 

Nor  the  fatherless  nor  the  widow  when 
she  pours  out  her  complaint." 

A  piece  of  literature  which  is  closely  con- 
nected with  Ben  Sirach  in  its  Influence  on 
the  New  Testament,  is  that  known  as  the 
Wisdom  of  Solomon.  Of  course  Solomon  did 
not  write  it.  It  is  generally  dated  about  the 
first  century  before  the  present  era,  and  is 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS  91 

considered  to  be  the  work  of  an  Alexandrian 
Jew. 

The  book34  is  an  exaltation  of  wisdom 
which  is  pure  and  comes  from  God.  But  he 
who  would  have  wisdom  must  have  right- 
eouness,  for  both  wisdom  and  righteousness 
are  godly,  and  the  ungodly  cannot  have  wis- 
dom. In  the  sense  in  which  the  writer  uses 
his  term,  it  included  the  elements  of  all 
knowledge  that  we  possess,  and  all  precepts 
and  principles  connected  with  our  social  re- 
lations. It  is  in  this  connection  that  we  can 
get  a  view  of  what  ideas  were  current  about 
the  time  this  work  was  written.  We  shall 
cite  as  few  illustrations  as  possible,  yet 
enough  to  show  that  righteousness,  mercy 
and  judgment,  were  principles  which  the  Jews 
observed  religiously,  wherever  they  were, 
here  in  Egypt  as  well  as  in  Palestine  and 
Persia.  The  opening  verses  give  perhaps  the 
very  best  clue  to  the  motive  of  the  book,  and 
set  forth  the  purpose  of  the  whole  work: 

""Love  righteousness,  ye  that  be  judges 
of  the  earth ;  think  of  the  Lord  with  a  good 
heart  *  *  *  for  He  will  be  found  of  them  that 
tempt  Him  not,  and  He  sheweth  himself  unto 
such  as  do  not  distrust  Him.  For  the  Holy 
spirit  of  the  Lord  f  illeth  the  world,  and  that 
which  containeth  all  things  hath  knowledge 
of  the  voice.  Therefore  he  that  speaketh  un- 
righteous things  cannot  be  hid,  neither  shall 
justice,  when  it  punisheth,  pass  him  by.  For 
inquisition  shall  be  made  into  the  counsels 


92  JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 


of  the  ungodly,  and  the  knowledge  of  His 
words  shall  come  unto  the  Lord  for  the  pun- 
ishment of  his  wicked  deeds.  For  the  ear  of 
jealousy  heareth  all  things,  and  the  noise  of 
murmuring  is  not  hid.  Therefore  beware  of 
any  unprofitable  murmuring,  and  refrain 
your  tongue  from  back-biting;  for  secret 
speech  shall  not  go  unpunished,  and  the 
mouth  that  belieth,  slayeth  the  soul." 

In  dealing  with  the  fate  of  the  wicked  and 
the  ungodly  on  the  one  hand  and  the  just 
and  righteous  on  the  other,  we  meet  with  a 
very  strong  condemnation  of  the  former. 
The  idea  expressed  here  has  not  yet  reached 
that  theological  development  which  consigns 
the  wicked  to  a  place  of  punishment,  but  the 
belief  that  the  righteous  will  live  forever  is 
already  strongly  intrenched. 

The  verses  which  are  quoted  below  are  pre- 
ceded by  a  criticism  of  the  kind  of  life  that 
had  been  led.  Some  people  were  steeped  in 
transgression,  in  pride  and  in  madness  for 
riches  and  wealth.  In  this  they  revelled,  but 
in  their  wickedness  they  were  consumed. 

86"For,"  says  the  writer,  "the  hope  of  the 
ungodly  is  like  dust,  that  is  blown  away  by 
the  wind,  and  like  a  thin  froth  that  is  driven 
away  by  the  wind;  like  the  smoke  which  is 
dispersed  here  and  there  with  the  tempest 
*  *  *  *  But  the  righteous  live  forever  more, 
their  reward  is  with  the  Lord  and  the  care 
of  them  is  with  the  Most  High.  Therefore 
shall  they  receive  the  kingdom  of  glory  and 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS  93 

a  crown  of  beauty  from  the  Lord's  hand.  For 
with  His  right  hand  He  shall  cover  them,  and 
with  His  arm  shall  He  protect  them. 

87"Hear  therefore,  0  ye  kings,  and  under- 
stand ;  learn,  judges  of  the  ends  of  the  earth. 
For  the  rulership  is  given  you  from  the  Lord, 
and  the  power  from  the  Highest,  who  shall 
try  your  works,  and  search  out  your  coun- 
sels. Because  being  ministers  of  His  king- 
dom, you  have  not  judged  right,  nor  kept  the 
law,  nor  walked  after  the  counsel  of  God; 
fearfully  and  speedily  will  He  come  upon  you, 
for  a  sharp  judgment  is  taken  upon  them 
that  be  in  high  places.  For  the  lowest  is  par- 
donable through  mercy,  but  the  mighty  shall 
be  mightily  chastised.  For  He  who  is  Lord 
over  all,  will  fear  no  man's  person,  neither 
will  He  stand  in  awe  of  any  man's  greatness ; 
for  He  hath  made  small  and  great,  and  car- 
eth  for  all  alike." 

There  is  need  for  an  extended  study  of  the 
religious  content  of  the  several  books  from 
which  quotations  are  here  given.  Such  stud- 
ies have  been  made,  but  not  by  men  who 
could  without  bias  show  their  value  as  com- 
pared with  that  of  the  New  Testament.  It 
it  not  enough  to  say  that  Paul  knew  the  con- 
tents of  the  Wisdom  of  Solomon.  To  show 
citations  from  Enoch  by  Jude  is  not  enough. 
It  is  not  enough  to  show  by  mere  references 
that  the  writers  of  Matthew  and  other  New 
Testament  documents  knew  the  Testaments 
of  the  Twelve  Patriarchs  or  some  of  the 


94  JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

thoughts  that  (this  collection  expressed.  What 
we  need  is  a  critical  study  of  the  religious  de- 
velopment of  this  whole  literature  from  a 
point  of  view,  which  if  not  friendly  to  Juda- 
ism, should  at  least  be  just  to  it.  An  exhaus- 
tive study  like  this  together  with  a  similar 
work  on  the  Mishnah,  would  establish  au- 
thoritatively for  the  Christian  world,  that 
which  the  Jewish  world  has  known  all  along, 
namely,  that  there  were  judgment,  right- 
eousness, even  the  "higher  righteousness" 
and  mercy,  every  place  where  the  Jewish  re- 
ligion or  "Law"  was  studied ;  and  at  all  times 
did  these  have  a  place  in  the  Jewish  heart; 
we  would  find  that  although  here  and  there 
dialecticism  or  legal  dispensation  seemed  to 
claim  the  greater  attention,  that  at  bottom  it 
was  the  ethical  implication  of  the  whole  Torah 
which  at  all  times,  formed  the  basis  and  con- 
tent of  Jewish  life ;  for  Judaism  is  a  life  rath- 
er than  a  creed ;  and  we  would  find  too,  that 
aside  from  the  one  dogmatic  teaching  con- 
cerning the  unity  of  God,  the  whole  fabric  of 
Judaism  was  and  is  what  we  would  call  an 
ethical  and  sociological  one  rather  than  a  the- 
ological one.  There  was  a  super-imposed  strat- 
um of  speculation;  just  as  Paul  later  super- 
imposed his  theological  speculation  upon  the 
ethical  teachings  handed  down  in  the  name 
of  Jesus ;  but  the  difference  between  Judaism 
and  Christianity  is  this:  Judaism  retained 
and  stressed  as  important  the  ethical  or  social 
elements,  while  Christianity  after  Paul,  prac- 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS  95 

tically  became  a  flowering  of  Pauline  specu- 
lation. 

Before  closing  this  very  incomplete  chap- 
ter on  the  extra-biblical  literature,  we  ought 
to  look  into  two  books  which  give  us  a  re- 
markable exposition  of  the  thought  of  the 
schools  of  the  authors  of  these  works.  The 
first  of  these,  the  Book  of  Jubilees38  or  Little 
Genesis,  is  an  account  of  creation  from  its 
beginning  to  the  Exodus.  It  is  written  from 
the  Pharisaic  and  nationalist  points  of  view, 
and  teems  with  the  protests  against  the  de- 
teriorating influences  brought  on  by  the  hel- 
lenistic  invasion  of  the  Greek-Maccabean 
period.  It  defends  the  Pentateuchal  laws  and 
imposes  purity  and  righteousness  upon  Israel 
and  'his  priests.  The  book  does  not  agree 
with  Genesis  in  all  particulars,  but  it  is  an 
excellent  exposition  of  the  ideas  and  ideals  of 
that  party  to  which  this  author  belonged. 
The  work  is  intensely  nationalistic,  and  we 
cite  references  from  it,  to  show  that  within 
that  Jewish  nationalism  which  this  book  rep- 
resents, the  channels  of  righteousness,  mer- 
cy and  judgment  had  never  run  low. 

Jubilees  takes  for  granted  the  Old  Testa- 
ment thought  that  God  is  a  God  of  righteous- 
ness, and  they  who  leave  off  righteousness, 
thereby  are  separated  from  God.  The  book 
opens  with  a  conversation  between  God  and 
Moses,  in  which  Moses  is  commanded  to 
write  down  as  God  dictates,  the  history  of 
Israel.  "I  shall  hide  My  face  from  them" — 


96  JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

as  a  penalty, — "and  I  shall  deliver  'them  into 
the  hands  of  the  Gentiles  for  captivity,  and 
for  a  prey  and  for  a  devouring,  *  *  *  And 
they  will  forget  all  My  laws  and  all  My  com- 
mandments, 'and  all  My  judgments,  and  will 
go  astray  as  to  new  moons,  and  Sabbaths, 
and  festivals,  and  jubilees  and  ordinances. 
And  after  this  they  will  turn  to  Me  *  *  *  and 
I  shall  disclose  to  them  abounding  peace  with 
righteousness,  and  I  shall  re-establish  them 
as  the  plant  of  uprightness  with  all  My  soul, 
and  they  will  be  for  a  blessing  and  not  for  a 
curse,  and  they  will  be  the  head  and  not  the 
tail.  And  I  shall  build  my  sanctuary  in  their 
midst,  and  I  shall  dwell  with  them,  and  I 
shall  be  their  God,  and  they  will  be  My  peo- 
ple in  truth  and  righteousness."  *  *  *  3Then 
Moses  fell  on  his  face  and  staid:  "Let  Thy 
mercy  0  Lord,  be  lifted  up  upon  Thy  people, 
and  create  in  them  an  upright  spirit,  and  let 
not  the  spirit  of  Beliar  rule  over  them,  to  ac- 
cuse them  before  Thee  and  to  ensnare  them 
from  all  the  paths  of  righteousness,  so  that 
they  may  perish  from  before  Thy  face." 

We  turn  from  the  ideal  'here  laid  down  for 
Israel  to  that  which  Noah  enjoined  upon  his 
descendants.  *°And  *  *  *  Noah  began  to  en- 
join upon  his  sons'  sons  the  ordinances  and 
the  commandments  and  all  the  judgments 
*  *  *  and  he  exhorted  his  sons  to  observe 
righteousness,  and  to  cover  the  shame  of 
their  flesh,  and  to  bless  their  Creator,  and 
honor  their  father  land  mother,  and  love  their 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS  97 

neighbor,  and  guard  their  souls  from  forni- 
cation and  uncleanliness  and  all  iniquity. 
'And  now  my  children,  hearken:  Work  judg- 
ment and  righteousness  that  you  may  be 
planted  in  righteousness  over  the  face  of  the 
whole  earth,  and  your  glory  lifted  up  before 
God,  who  saved  me  from  the  wtaters  of  the 
flood/  " 

"Abraham  likewise  called  his  children  be- 
fore him  to  give  them  instruction  in  the 
paths  which  they  should  follow.  "And  he 
commanded  them  that  they  should  observe 
the  way  of  the  Lord ;  that  they  should  work 
righteousness,  and  love  each  his  neighbor, 
and  act  in  this  manner  amongst  all  men ;  that 
they  should  each  so  walk  with  regard  to 
them  as  to  do  judgment  and  righteousness  on 
the  earth;  that  they  should  circumcise  their 
sons  according  to  the  covenant  which  He  had 
made  with  them,  and  not  deviate  to  the  right 
hand  or  the  left  from  all  the  paths  which  the 
Lord  had  commanded  us ;  and  that  we  should 
keep  ourselves  from  all  fornication  and  un- 
cleanliness." 

42"But  serve  ye  the  Most  High  God  and 
worship  Him  continually. 

And  hope  for  His  countenance  always. 

And  work  uprightness  and  righteousness 
before  Him. 

And  ye  will  be  for  a  blessing  on  the  earth, 

And  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  will  de- 
sire you, 

And  bless  your  sons  in  my  name, 


98  JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

That  they  may  be  blessed  as  I  am." 

When  Abraham  became  old  and  felt  him- 
self going  the  way  of  all  flesh,  he  called  his 
son  Isaac  to  his  side,  and  concluded  his  last 
bit  of  advice. 

43"I  see  my  son, 

That  all  the  works  of  the  children  of  men 
are  sin  and  wickedness, 

And  all  their  deeds  are  uncleanliness  and 
an  abomination  and  a  pollution, 

And  there  is  no  righteousness  with  them. 

Beware  lest  thou  shouldst  walk  in  their 
ways, 

And  tread  in  their  paths, 

And  sin  a  sin  unto  the  death  before  the 
Most  High  God. 

Turn  away  from  all  their  deeds  and  all 
their  uncleanliness, 

And  observe  the  ordinance  of  the  Most 
High  God. 

And  do  His  will  and  be  upright  in  all 
things. 

And  He  will  bless  thee  in  all  thy  deeds, 

And  will  raise  up  from  thee  the  plant  of 
righteousness  throughout  all  the  earth, 
throughout  all  generations  of  the  earth. 

And  My  name  and  thy  name  will  not  be 
forgotten  under  heaven  forever." 

Just  as  Noah  and  Abraham  had  departed, 
but  not  before  instructing  their  children,  so 
too,  did  Isaac  do,  when  he  felt  that  the  end  of 
his  days  was  approaching:  And  lie  called  his 
two  sons  together,  and  among  other  things 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS  99 

he  said:  44"And  this  I  -command  you,  my 
sons,  that  ye  practice  righteousness  and  up- 
rightness on  earth,  so  that  the  Lord  may 
bring  upon  you  all  that  the  Lord  said  that 
He  would  do  to  Abraham  and  to  his  seed; 
and  love  one  another,  my  sons,  your  brothers, 
as  a  man  who  loves  his  own  soul,  and  let  each 
seek  in  what  he  may  benefit  his  brother  and 
act  together  on  the  earth ;  and  let  them  "love 
each  other  as  their  own  souls.  May  the  Most 
High  God  bless  the  man  that  worketh  right- 
eousness, him  and  his  seed  forever." 

These  by  no  means  exhaust  the  number  of 
references  that  could  be  cited  from  this 
work,  to  prove  our  contention.  Though  the 
patriarchal  characters  'are  used,  this  work 
like  the  one  to  be  considered  next,  was  writ- 
ten during  the  reign  of  John  Hyrcanus,  be- 
tween 135  and  105  before  Jesus.  Holding  in 
mind  the  fact  that  we  are  in  that  period  of 
Jewish  history  which  in  order  to  justify  the 
coming  of  their  Messiah  at  that  particular 
time,  Christians  consider  the  very  worst,  it 
must  seem  that  these  sentiments  'are  lofty 
indeed ;  and  in  the  face  of  this  great  and  sub- 
lime literature  whose  fringes  only  we  have  so 
lightly  touched,  this  period — the  first  cen- 
turies before  the  present  era — could  not  have 
been  nearly  as  bad  as  apologetes  desire  to 
make  them. 

The  book  which  we  have  reserved  for  the 
last  part  of  this  section  is  one  of  the  most 
fertile  of  the  post-biblical  contributions.  "It 


100          JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

is  the  work  of  a  Pharisee  who  lived  contem- 
poraneously with  John  Hyrcanus;  and  the 
work  'has  been  dated  between  109  and  106  be- 
fore the  Christian  era.  It  represents  the 
best  Jewish  thought  of  the  day,  dignifying 
in  splendid  manner  those  virtues  which  com- 
bine to  make  the  very  best  in  human  char- 
acter. This  book  h&s  been  of  striking  influ- 
ence on  the  New  Testament,  and  this  is 
shown  particularly  in  the  so-called  "Sayings 
of  Jesus;"  and  no  less  than  ninety-one  pas- 
sages are  either  taken  from,  or  are  directly 
influenced  by  the  Book  of  the  Testaments  of 
the  Twelve  Patriarchs.  It  is  in  this  book 
that  we  find  the  original  of  the  famous  com- 
mand concerning  God  and  man,  later  found 
in  the  New  Testament,  namely,  *7  "Master, 
which  is  the  great  commandment  in  the 
Law?"  Jesus  said  unto  him,  "Thou  shalt 
love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself."  And  if  the 
book  had  nothing  to  commend  it  but  this,  it 
would  still  be  one  of  the  most  important 
pieces  of  apocryphal  literature,  showing  as  it 
does  so  clearly,  what  the  Jew  knows,  but 
what  the  Christian  denies,  namely,  that  in 
the  mind  of  the  author  and  his  whole  sect, 
religion  was  as  much  a  duty  and  an  attention 
to  man,  as  it  was  to  God.  It  is  indeed  a  mat- 
ter of  much  more  than  passing  importance 
that  earlier  by  140  years  at  least,  and  prob- 
ably by  180,  a  Jewish  scribe  published  that 
precept,  which  the  Christians  have  been  giv- 
ing later  in  the  name  of  their  founder,  as  the 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS          101 

very  corner  stone  of  Christian  teachings  and 
life.  As  one  reads  these  monuments  of  the 
Jewish  past,  and  sees  more  and  more  'how 
utterly  Jewish  the  best  ethical  ideals  of  the 
New  Testament  are,  this  question  bounds 
back  in  spite  of  one's  self:  When  will  that 
credit  and  glory  that  belong  to  the  Jews  be 
given  them  by  the  unknowing  world? 

The  form  of  this  work  is  that  of  a  series  of 
testaments  or  wills,  presumably  written  by 
the  twelve  sons  of  Jacob,  and  containing  their 
instruction  and  advice  to  their  children.  The 
main  events  of  the  Bible  which  appertained 
to  the  lives  of  these  men  are  given  in  the 
testaments,  and  from  them  religious  lessons 
are  drawn,  and  taught  to  those  who  are  sup- 
posed to  be  listening.  "The  work  contains 
not  only  the  general  teachings  regarding  the 
love  of  God  and  fellowman,  but  goes  rather 
deeply  into  the  ideas  of  forgiveness,  hatred, 
deceit,  jealousy  and  envy,  righteousness, 
truthfulness,  and  all  of  those  social  relations 
which  make  for  a  religious  life  in  the  very 
highest  sense,  or  unmake  it.  I  believe  that 
this  work  as  a  whole  represents  the  highest 
type  of  Palestinian  religious  thought,  and 
the  word  "Palestinian"  is  used  here  in  the 
sense  which  also  includes  the  New  Testa- 
ment writings. 

Reuben,  the  first  born  of  Jacob  and  Leah, 
called  about  him  his  children  and  after  relat- 
ing those  experiences  in  his  life  which  he 
deemed  the  most  important,  he  closes  with  a 


102          JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

few  verses  of  admonition:  49"Beware  of  for- 
nication ;  'and  if  you  wish  to  be  pure  in  mind, 
guard  your  senses  from  every  woman.  Com- 
mand the  women  likewise  not  to  associate 
with  men,  that  they  also  may  be  pure  in 
mind.  For  constant  meetings  even  though 
the  ungodly  deed  be  not  wrought,  are  to  them 
an  irremediable  disease  and  to  us  a  destruc- 
tion of  Beliar  'and  an  eternal  reproach.  60I 
adjure  you  by  the  God  of  heaven  to  do  truth 
each  one  unto  his  neighbor  and  to  entertain 
love  each  for  his  brother.  And  draw  ye  near 
to  Levi,  (the  priest)  in  humbleness  of  heart 
that  ye  may  receive  a  blessing  from  his 
mouth." 

When  Simeon  became  sick,  his  sons  came 
to  visit  him,  and  while  they  were  around  his 
bedside,  he  took  occasion  to  review  his  life, 
'and  to  point  out  his  mistakes.  B1He  spoke  of 
the  part  he  played  in  the  selling  of  Joseph, 
and  he  told  how  deeply  he  had  grieved  over 
his  cruelty.  52He  told  of  his  repentance  and 
commanded  his  children  to  "beware  of  the 
spirit  of  deceit  and  envy.  For  envy  ruleth 
over  the  whole  mind  of  a  man,  and  suffereth 
him  not  to  do  any  good  thing.  But  it  sug- 
gesteth  to  destroy  him  that  he  envieth.  63Do 
ye  also,  my  children  love  e'ach  one  his 
brother  with  a  good  heart,  and  the  spirit  of 
envy  will  withdraw  from  you.  For  this  mak- 
eth  savage  the  soul  and  destroyeth  the  body 
— it  causeth  anger  and  war  in  mind  and  stir- 
reth  up  into  deeds  of  blood.  "And  now  my 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS          103 

children,  make  your  hearts  good  before  the 
Lord  and  your  ways  straight  before  men, 
and  ye  shall  find  grace  before  the  Lord  and 
men." 

Though  sound  in  body  and  mind,  "Levi 
had  received  a  revelation  that  the  end  of  his 
days  was  approaching,  and  in  order  not  to 
leave  his  descendants  without  proper  coun- 
sel he  Called  them  together.  He  related  how 
he,  together  with  Simeon  had  taken  ven- 
geance on  66Hamor  for  the  outrage  upon 
Dinah;  how  the  matter  had  distressed  their 
father  and  how  it  caused  the  war  between 
Hamor  and  Jacob.  67He  told  of  the  vision  in 
which  he  was  appointed  the  priest  of  his  peo- 
ple— a  vision  which  came  upon  him  after  he 
had  thought  long  and  intently  upon  the  "men 
corrupting  their  ways"  and  upon  the  fact  that 
"unrighteousness  had  built  for  itself  walls, 
and  lawlessness  sat  upon  towers."  He  told 
them  how  he  grieved  for  the  race  of  the  sons 
of  men,  and  how  he  prayed  to  the  Lord  that 
he  might  be  saved.  He  described  that  vision 
in  which  he  was  commanded  to  B8"put  on  the 
robes  of  priesthood,  and  the  crown  of  right- 
eousness and  the  breastplate  of  understand- 
ing, and  the  garment  of  truth  and  the  plate 
of  faith,  and  the  turban  of  the  head,  and  the 
ephod  of  prophecy;"  and  then  he  relates  his 
annointing.  And  now  prepared  ito  stand  as  the 
teacher  and  priest  of  Israel  and  to  set  before 
them  these  ideals,  he  commands  them  to 


104          JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

""Fear  the  Lord  your  God  with  your  whole 
heart, 

And  walk  in  simplicity  according  to  all 
His  laws. 

60Work  righteousness,  my  children  upon 
the  earth, 

That  ye  may  have  it  as  a  treasure  in 
heaven. 

And  sow  good  things  in  your  souls, 

That  ye  may  find  them  in  your  life. 

"Whosoever  teaches  noble  things  and  does 
them, 

Shall  be  enthroned  with  kings, 

As  was  also  Joseph,  thy  brother." 

82"For  as  the  heaven  is  purer  in  the  Lord's 
sight  than  the  earth,  so  !also  be  ye,  the  light 
of  Israel,  purer  than  all  the  Gentiles."  Other 
versions  have  it :  "My  children,  be  ye  pure  as 
the  heaven  is  purer  than  the  earth;  and  ye 
who  are  the  lights  of  Israel  shall  be  as  the 
sun  and  moon."  63"But  if  ye  be  darkened 
through  transgressions,  what  therefore  will 
all  the  Gentiles  do  living  in  blindness?  Yea, 
ye  shall  bring  a  curse  upon  our  race  because 
of  the  light  of  the  law  which  was  given  for 
to  light  every  man,  this  ye  desire  to  destroy 
by  teaching  commandments  contrary  to  the 
ordinances  of  God." 

The  Testament  of  Levi  is  extremely  inter- 
esting. It  pictures  Israel's  backsliding  and  en- 
umerates the  penalties.  It  gives  a  vivid  des- 
cription of  Israel's  sins  during  the  period  of 
the  writer,  and  at  the  end  it  closes  with  an 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS          105 

exhortation  to  choose  either  ""the  light  or 
the  darkness,  the  law  of  the  Lord  or  the 
works  of  Beliar." 

The  Testament  of  Judah  is  one  of  the  long- 
est in  the  book,  on  account  of  the  importance 
of  the  tribe  of  that  name,  in  Israel's  history. 
Judah,  too,  calls  together  his  sons,  tells  them 
of  his  youth,  his  achievements  and  the  bless- 
ings that  were  bestowed  upon  him,  even  to 
the  kingship  of  Israel.  He  relates  some 
things  not  found  in  the  Bible,  and  describes 
vividly  some  of  the  experiences  in  which  he 
and  his  brothers  were  the  heroes.  From 
these  and  the  deed  with  Tamar,  he  draws  the 
moral  lessons  which  he  desires  to  teach  his 
children.  ""Walk  not  after  your  lusts,  nor  in 
the  imaginations  of  your  thoughts  in  haugh- 
tiness of  heart;  and  glory  not  in  the  deeds 
and  strength  of  your  youth,  for  this  also  is 
evil  in  the  eyes  of  the  Lord." 

66"Beware,  therefore,  my  children  of  forni- 
cation and  the  love  of  money  and  hearken  to 
Judah,  your  father. 

For  these  things  withdraw  you  from  the 
Law  of  God, 

And  teach  arrogance, 

And  suffer  not  a  man  to  have  compassion 
upon  his  neighbor. 

They  rob  his  soul  of  all  goodness, 

And  oppress  him  with  toils  and  troubles. 

And  drive  away  sleep  with  him, 

And  devour  his  flesh." 

By  way  of  interest  we  quote  from  this  tes- 


106          JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

lament  its  description  of  the  king  of  Israel, 
who  is  to  occupy  the  throne  after  Israel's  re- 
demption when  the  messianic  ruler  will  have 
come  to  establish  Israel's  kingdom,  and  when 
87"the  Lord  will  visit  you  (the  Jews)  when 
with  perfect  heart  you  repent  and  walk  in  all 
•his  commandments,  and  he  will  bring  you 
up  from  captivity  among  the  Gentiles  *  *  * 
68And  after  these  things  shall  a  star  arise  to 
you  from  Jacob  in  peace. 

And  a  man  shall  arise  like  the  sun  of 
righteousness, 

And  no  sin  shall  be  found  on  him. 

Aaid  the  heavens  shall  be  opened  to  him 

To  pour  out  the  spirit,  the  blessings  of  the 
Holy  Father; 

And  he  shall  pour  out  the  spirit  of  grace 
upon  you, 

And  ye  shall  be  unto  him  sons  in  truth, 

And  ye  shall  walk  in  His  commandments 
first  and  last. 

Then  shall  the  sceptre  of  my  kingdom 
shine  forth, 

And  from  your  root  shall  arise  a  stem ; 

And  from  it  shall  grow  a  rod  of  righteous- 
ness to  the  Gentiles, 

To  judge  and  to  save  all  that  call  upon  the 
Lord. 

"And  after  these  things  shall  Abraham 
and  Isaac  and  Jacob  arise  unto  life,  and  I,  my 
brethren,  shall  be  chief  of  the  tribes. 

And  ye  shall  be  people  of  the  Lord  and 
have  one  tongue, 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS          107 

And  there  shall  be  no  spirit  of  deceit  of 
Beliar, 

For  he  shall  be  cast  into  the  fire  forever. 

And  they  who  have  died  in  grief  shall  arise 
in  joy, 

"And  they  who  were  poor  for  the  Lord's 
s;ake  shall  be  made  rich, 

And  they  who  were  put  to  death  for  the 
Lord's  sake  shall  awake  to  life, 

And  the  harts  of  Israel  shall  run  in  joy- 
fulness, 

And  the  eagles  of  Israel  shall  fly  in  glad- 
ness, 

And  all  the  people  shall  glorify  the  Lord 
forever. 

"Observe  therefore  my  children,  all  the 
Law  of  the  Lord,  for  there  is  hope  to  all  of 
them  who  hold  fast  to  His  ways." 

The  words  of  counsel  in  the  Testament  of 
Issachar  sound  like  those  of  Ben  Sirach  or 
Wisdom,  though  they  breathe  a  somewhat 
more  refined  religious  spirit.  After  relating 
how  he  aided  the  poor,  Issadhar  speaks  thus : 

""And  now  hearken  to  me,  my  children, 

And  walk  in  singleness  of  heart, 

For  I  have  seen  it  in  all  that  is  well  pleas- 
ing to  the  Lord, 

The  single-minded  man  coveteth  not  gold, 

He  overreacheth  not  his  neighbor, 

But  only  waiteth  for  the  will  of  God. 

And  the  spirits  of  deceit  have  no  power 
against  him, 

There  is  no  envy  in  his  thoughts, 


108       JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

Malice  maketh  not  his  soul  to  pass  away, 

Nor  worry  with  insatiable  desire  in  his 
mind. 

For  he  walketh  in  singleness  of  soul, 

And  beholdeth  all  things  in  uprightness 
of  'heart, 

Shunning  eyes  made  evil  through  the  error 
of  the  world, 

Lest  he  should  see  the  perversion  of  any  of 
the  commandments  of  the  Lord. 

Keep  therefore  my  children,  the  Law  of 
God,  *  *  * 

"Not  playing  the  busybody  with  the  busi- 
ness of  your  neighbor ; 

But  love  the  Lord  and  your  neighbor, 

Have  compassion  on  the  poor  and  the 
weak." 

After  laying  down  these  general  principles, 
he  tells  them  how  he  lived,  and  commands 
them  to  live  likewise: 

74"Except  my  wife,  I  have  not  known  any 
woman.  I  never  committed  fornication  by 
the  lifting  up  of  my  eyes. 

I  drank  not  wine  to  be  led  astray  thereby, 

I  coveted  not  any  desirable  thing  that  was 
my  neighbor's. 

Guile  rose  not  in  my  heart, 

A  lie  passed  not  through  my  lips. 

If  any  man  were  in  distress,  I  joined  my 
sighs  with  his, 

And  I  shared  my  bread  with  the  poor. 

I  wrought  godliness,  all  my  days  I  kept  the 
truth. 

I  loved  the  Lord, 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS          109 

Likewise  also  every  man  with  all  my  heart. 
So  do  ye  also  these  things,  my  children, 
Since  you  have  with  you  the  God  of  heav- 
en and  earth, 

And  walk  with  men  in  singleness  of  heart." 
The  Testament  of  Zebulun  contains  re- 
peated admonitions  to  be  merciful.  He  is  the 
one  of  all  of  Joseph's  older  brothers  who  shed 
tears  of  compassion  when  the  brothers  so 
harshly  mistreated  him.  This  is  one  of  the 
tenderest  bits  of  sentiment  not  only  in  this 
book  but  in  the  whole  intertestamental  liter- 
ature, and  some  of  its  contents  compare  most 
favorably  with  the  best  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment. Like  the  others,  Zebulun  refers  to  his 
past  life,  and  lays  especial  stress  on  the  sin 
against  Joseph,  for  which  he,  too,  has  long 
since  repented.  An  interesting  fact  not  bear- 
ing on  our  subject,  is  the  claim  of  Zebulun 
that  he  "was  the  first  to  make  a  boat  to  sail 
upon  the  sea." 

Zebulun's  testament  is  one  of  the  few  an- 
cient works  that  advises  kindness  to  animals. 
He  bids  his  children  to  keep  the  commands 
of  the  Lord,  and  to  show  mercy  to  their 
neighbors,  76"and  to  have  compassion  towards 
all,  not  towards  men  only  but  also  towards 
beasts."  He  then  tells  how  he  shared  his 
"catch  with  every  stranger,"  and  how  he  had 
compassion  upon  every  one.  He  relates  how 
he  once  helped  a  man  in  ""distress  in  winter 
and  stole  a  garment  from  his  father's  house 
to  give  to  him  who  was  in  trouble.  "Do  you 


110          JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

therefore,"  says  he,  "my  children,  from  that 
which  God  bestoweth  upon  you,  show  com- 
passion and  mercy  without  hesitation  to  all 
men,  and  give  to  every  man  with  a  good 
heart.  And  if  ye  have  not  the  wherewithal  to 
give  to  him  that  needeth,  have  compassion  on 
him  in  bowels  of  mercy.  I  know  that  my 
hand  found  not  the  wherewithal  to  give  to 
him  that  needed,  and  I  walked  with  him 
weeping  for  seven  furlongs,  and  my  bowels 
yearned  towards  him  in  compassion.  "Have 
ye  therefore,  yourselves  also  my  children, 
compassion  towards  every  m;an,  with  mercy, 
that  the  Lord  also  may  have  compassion  and 
mercy  upon  you." 

There  remain  yet  six  Testaments,  and  each 
one  contains  precept  after  precept  of  that 
"judgment,  righteousness  and  mercy"  which 
Israel  is  supposed  by  many  not  to  have  had. 
To  quote  them  all  will  be  irksome,  if,  indeed 
those  that  have  already  been  quoted  are  not 
so.  And  yet  justice  to  the  matter  requires 
that  some  of  these  thoughts  be  here  inserted. 
A  few  only  have  been  selected  and  these  are 
placed  under  the  names  of  the  testaments 
which  contain  them. 

The  Testament  of  Dan:  78"I  have  proved 
in  my  heart,  and  in  my  whole  life  that  the 
truth  with  just  dealings  is  good  and  well 
pleasing  to  God,  and  that  lying  and  anger 
are  evil,  because  they  teach  man  all  wicked- 
ness. "And  I  tell  you  of  a  truth,  that  unless 
ye  keep  yourselves  from  the  spirit  of  lying 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS          111 

and  anger,  and  love  truth  and  long-suffering, 
ye  shall  perish,  for  anger  is  blindness,  and 
does  not  suffer  one  to  see  the  face  of  any 
man  with  truth.  ""Observe  the  command- 
ments of  God, 

And  hate  lying,  that  the  Lord  may  dwell 
among  you, 

And  Beliar  may  flee  from  you. 

Speak  the  truth  each  one  with  his  neigh- 
bor, 

So  shall  ye  not  fall  into  wrath  and  confu- 
sion, 

But  ye  shall  be  in  peace,  having  the  God 
of  peace, 

So  shall  no  war  prevail  among  you. 

Love  the  Lord  through  all  your  life, 

And  one  another  with  a  true  heart. 

"Depart  therefore  from  all  unrighteous- 
ness and  cleave  unto  the  righteousness  of 
God  and  your  race  will  be  saved  forever." 

The  Testament  of  Napthali:  82Be  ye 
therefore  not  eager  to  corrupt  your  doings 
through  covetousness  or  with  vain  words  to 
beguile  your  souls ;  *  *  * 

83And  if  ye  work  that  which  is  good,  my 
children, 

Both  men  and  angels  shall  bless  you ; 

And  God  shall  be  glorified  among  the  Gen- 
tiles through  you, 

And  the  devil  shall  flee  from  you. 

But  him  who  doeth  not  what  is  good, 

Both  angels  and  men  shall  curse, 

And  God  shall  be  dishonored  among  the 
Gentiles  through  him." 


112          JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

' 


'*»•• 


Testament  of  Gad:  84"And  now  my  chil- 
dren, hearken  to  the  words  of  truth  to  work 
righteousness,  and  all  the  law  of  the  Most 
High,  and  go  not  astray  through  the  spirit 
of  hatred,  for  it  is  evil  in  all  the  doings  of 
men.  Whatsoever  a  man  doeth,  the  hater 
abominates  him  *  *  *  though  man  feareth 
the  Lord,  and  taketh  pleasure  in  that  which 
is  righteous,  he  loves  Him  not.  He  disprais- 
eth  the  truth,'  he  envieth  him  that  prospers, 
he  welcometh  evil  speaking,  he  loveth  arro- 
gance, for  hatred  blindeth  the  soul.  "Beware 
therefore,  my  children,  of  (hatred;  for  it 
worketh  lawlessness  even  against  the  Lord 
himself.  For  he  will  not  hear  the  words  of 
His  commandments  concerning  the  loving  of 
one's  neighbors,  and  it  sinneth  against  God. 
"For  as  love  would  quicken  even  the  dead,  and 
would  call  back  them  that  are  condemned  to 
die,  so  hatred  would  slay  the  living,  and  those 
that  had  sinned  venially,  it  would  not  suffer 
to  live.  For  the  spirit  of  hatred  worketh 
together  with  Satan  through  hastiness  of 
spirit  in  all  things  unto  men's  death  ;  but  the 
spirit  of  love  worketh  together  with  the  law 
of  God  in  long-suffering  unto  the  salvation 
of  men.  Hatred  therefore  is  evil,  for  it  con- 
stantly mateth  with  lying,  speaking  against 
the  truth;  and  it  maketh  small  things  to  be 
greiat,  and  causeth  the  light  to  be  darkness, 
and  calleth  the  sweet  bitter,  and  teacheth 
slander  and  kindleth  wrath  and  stirreth  up 
war,  and  violence  and  all  covetousness  ;  it  fill- 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS          113 

eth  the  heart  with  evils  and  devilish  poison. 
These  things  therefore,  I  say  to  you  from  ex- 
perience, my  children,  that  ye  may  drive 
forth  hatred,  which  is  of  the  devil,  and  cleave 
to  the  love  of  God.  Righteousness  casteth 
out  hatred,  humility  destroyeth  envy.  For 
he  that  is  just  and  humble  is  ashamed  to  do 
what  is  unjust,  being  reproved  not  of  another 
but  of  his  own  heart,  because  the  Lord  look- 
eth  upon  his  inclination.  "And  now  my  chil- 
dren, I  exhort -you,  love  ye  each  one  his  broth- 
er, and  put  away  hatred  from  your  hearts, 
love  one  another  in  deed  and  in  word  and  in 
inclination  of  soul.  88Love  ye  one  another 
from  the  heart,  and  if  a  man  sin  against  thee, 
speak  peaceably  to  him,  and  in  thy  soul  hold 
no  guile ;  and  if  he  repent  and  confess,  forgive 
him.  But  if  he  deny  it,  do  not  get  into  a 
passion  with  him,  lest  catdhing  the  poison 
from  thee,  he  taketh  to  swearing  and  thou 
sin  doubly.  80But  if  he  be  shameless  and  per- 
sisteth  in  his  wrongdoing,  even  so  forgive 
him  from  the  heart,  and  leave  to  God  the 
avenging." 

Who  can  read  these  remarkable  words  and 
those  which  follow — without  feeling  the 
great  injustice  that  is  done  Judaism  by 
those  who  deny  it  the  possession  of  some  of 
religion's  purest  teachings. 

Testament  of  Asher:  "He  who  defraud- 
eth  his  neighbor  provoketh  God,  and  swear- 
eth  falsely  against  the  Most  High,  and  yet 
pitieth  the  poor;  *  *  *  ""another  commiteth 


114          JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

adultery  and  fornication,  and  abstaineth 
from  meats,  and  when  he  fasteth  he  does  evil 
and  by  the  power  of  his  wealth  overwhelm- 
eth  many ;  and  notwithstanding  5ils  excessive 
wickedness  he  doeth  the  commandments; 
this  too,  hath  a  two-fold  aspect,  but  the  whole 
is  evil.  81But  do  not  ye  my  children,  wear 
faces  like  unto  them,  of  goodness  and  of 
wickedness,  but  cleave  unto  goodness  only, 
.for  God  has  his  habitation  therein,  and  men 
desire  it.  But  from  wickedness  flee  away 
destroying  the  evil  inclination  by  your  good 
works;  for  they  that  are  double-faced  serve 
not  God  but  their  own  lusts,  so  that  they  may 
please  Beliar  and  men  like  themselves.  82Take 
heed  therefore,  ye  also  my  children,  to  the 
commandments  of  the  Lord,  following  the 
truth  with  singleness  of  face.  For  they  that 
are  double-faced  are  guilty  of  a  double  sin; 
for  they  both  do  the  evil  thing  and  they  have 
pleasure  in  them  that  do  it,  following  the  ex- 
amples of  the  spirits  of  deceit  and  striving 
against  mankind.  Do  ye  keep  the  Law  of  the 
Lord,  and  give  not  heed  unto  evil  as  unto 
good;  but  look  unto  the  thing  that  is  really 
good,  and  keep  it  in  all  commandments  of  the 
Lord,  having  your  conversation  fherein,  and 
resting  therein." 

Testament  of  Joseph:  98"Do  ye  also  there- 
fore, my  children,  have  the  fear  of  God  in  all 
your  works  before  your  eyes,  and  honor  your 
brethren;  for  everyone  who  doeth  the  Law 
of  the  Lord  shall  be  loved  by  Him.  '*  Ye  see, 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS          115 

therefore,  what  great  things  I  endured  that 
I  should  not  put  my  brethren  to  shame.  Do 
ye  also,  love  one  another,  and  with  long-suf- 
fering hide  ye  one  another's  faults.  For  God 
delighteth  in  the  unity  of  brethren,  and  in 
the  purpose  of  a  heart  that  taketh  pleasure 
in  love.  "If  ye  also,  therefore,  walk  in  the 
commandments  of  the  Lord,  my  children,  He 
will  exalt  you  there  and  will  bless  you  with 
good  things  forever  and  ever.  And  if  any- 
one seeketh  to  do  evil  unto  you,  do  well  unto 
him  'and  pray  for  him,  and  ye  shall  be  re- 
deemed of  the  Lord,  from  all  evil." 

What  a  remarkable  revelation  these  words 
must  be  to  those  who  constantly  reproach  the 
Jews  with  their  (harshness,  and  quote  so  con- 
tinually the  purported  words  of  Jesus.  ""Ye 
have  heard  that  it  hath  been  said,  'thou  shalt 
love  thy  neighbor  and  hate  thine  enemy,  but 
I  say  unto  you,  love  your  enemies  and  pray 
for  them  that  persecute  you.' "  Was  Jesus 
or  the  editor  of  Matthew  acquainted  with  the 
Testaments  of  Joseph  or  Naphtali? 

Testament  of  Benjamin:  ""Do  ye  also  my 
children,  love  the  Lord  God  of  Heaven  and 
Earth,  and  keep  His  commandments.  And 
let  your  mind  be  unto  good,  even  as  ye  know 
me ;  for  he  who  hath  his  mind  right,  seeth  all 
things  rightly.  Fear  ye  the  Lord,  and  love 
your  neighbor.  98See  ye  therefore  my  children 
the  end  of  a  good  man?  Be  followers  of  his 
compassion,  therefore,  with  a  good  mind, 
that  ye  also  may  wear  crowns  of  glory.  For 


116          JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

the  good  man  hath  not  a  dark  eye;  for  he 
showeth  mercy  to  all  men,  even  though 
they  be  sinners.  And  though  they  devise 
with  evil  intent  concerning  him,  by  doing 
good  he  overcometh  evil,  being  shielded  by 
God ;  and  he  loveth  the  righteous  as  'his  own 
soul.  80If  anyone  does  violence  to  a  holy  man, 
he  repenteth;  for  the  holy  man  is  merciful 
to  his  reviler,  and  holdetJh  his  peace.  "The 
good  mind  hath  not  two  tongues,  of  blessing 
and  of  cursing,  of  contumely  and  of  honor, 
of  sorrow  and  joy,  of  quietness  and  of  con- 
fusion, of  hypocrisy  and  of  truth,  of  poverty 
and  of  wealth;  but  it  hath  one  disposition, 
uncorrupt  and  pure  concerning  all  men.  It 
hath  no  double  sight,  nor  double  hearing ;  for 
in  every  thing  which  he  doeth  or  speaketh 
or  seeth,  he  knows  that  tihe  Lord  looketh  on 
his  soul.  And  he  cleanseth  his  mind  that 
he  be  not  condemned  by  men  as  well  as  by 
God.  101And  do  ye  my  children,  flee  evil  do- 
ing, envy  and  hatred  of  brethren,  and  cleave 
to  goodness  and  love.  102Do  ye  truth,  each  one 
to  his  neighbor,  and  keep  the  Law  of  the 
Lord  and  his  commandments." 

It  is  a  pity  that  this  great  literature  out 
of  Which  there  can  be  extracted  some  of  the 
noblest  ideals  of  conduct  that  have  ever  been 
written,  should  be  closed  to  the  ordinary  read- 
er of  the  sacred  writings.  If  it  is  'a  fact  that 
the  canon  contains  many  of  the  best  thoughts 
that  have  ever  been  uttered,  it  is  difficult  to 
understand  wherein  much  of  the  apocryphal 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS          117 

literature  falls  below  it.  Perhaps  as  it  be- 
comes tlie  more  generally  known,  it  too  will 
become  the  more  valued. 


118          JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 


CHAPTER  IV. 

The  Jewish  Ideals  and  the  New 
Testament. 

In  evaluating  the  contributions  of  the  old- 
er and  newer  covenants,  it  is  [hardly  just  to 
compare  the  ethics  of  Jesus  and  the  New 
Testament  with  those  of  the  Old.  It  is  easy 
to  say  that  some  of  the  teadhings  of  Jesus 
are  higher  than  those  of  the  older  Jewish 
sages  of  the  older  canon,  and  it  is  just  as 
easy  to  say  that  many  of  the  teachings  of  the 
Jewish  teachers  who  lived  a  century  or  two 
after  the  close  of  the  Old  Testament  were 
also  higher  than  those  of  the  older  sages  of 
the  Bible.  But  we  must  not  overlook  the  fact 
that  upon  both  Jesus  and  the  other  post-Bib- 
lical Jewish  teachers  the  best  portions  of  the 
Bible  had  already  exerted  an  untold  influ- 
ence. So  far  as  religious  depth  and  height  of 
spiritual  essence  are  concerned,  there  is  much 
of  this  outside  of  the  Bible  superior  to  a  great 
deal  in  the  Bible.  Men  grow  with  years,  es- 
pecially after  they  have  a  spiritual  treasure 
and  a  religious  guide  by  which  to  live.  It  is 
therefore  not  just  to  say  that  the  New  Tes- 
tament teaches  this  and  that,  while  the  Old 
Testament  teachers  <had  only  given  hint  of 
this  or  that.  We  ought  rather  to  judge  the 
teachings  of  the  Old  Testament  in  the  light  of 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS          119 

the  civilization  about  them ;  and  compare  the 
New  Testament,  or  more  explicitly  the  alleg- 
ed teachings  of  Jesus,  with  the  contemporary 
Jewish  literature:  That  is,  the  works  cited 
in  the  preceding  chapter,  the  Mislmah,  the 
early  Talmudic  and  Midrashic  sources,  and 
the  Prayer  book.  In  this  vast  literature  we 
may  gain  some  idea  of  the  ideals,  the 
thoughts  and  the  deeds  which  constituted  the 
religious  life  of  the  people ;  there  we  may  find 
what  the  Jews  of  those  days  regarded  as  the 
means  of  their  salvation ;  there  shall  we  find 
the  principles — high  and  ennobling,  which 
underlay  a  truly  Jewish  life;  and  there  will 
we  find  too,  that  the  utterances  of  Jesus  fit- 
ted, and  could  have  been  spoken  by  almost 
any  of  the  well-known  sages,  rabbis  and 
teachers  of  the  Law.  But  these  sources  are 
difficult  to  get  at ;  few  non-Jews  are  at  home 
in  them,  and  fewer  still  think  them  import- 
ant enough.  For  justice  to  Judaism  seems 
to  occupy  little  of  their  concern.  A  new 
'light,  however,  has  dawned,  and  for  the 
first  time  in  our  days  there  has  appeared  one 
who  feels  that  Jewish  life  and  belief  have 
long  enough  been  distorted,  and  that  it  is 
time  that  those  who  misunderstand  unwill- 
ingly shall  be  given  an  opportunity  to  judge 
dispassionately.  To  quote  the  writer  of  this 
new  and  excellent  volume:  2"I  have  not 
sought  to  write  a  panegyric  on  them  (the 
Pharisees) ,  but  so  far  as  may  be  possible  for 
one  who  is  not  a  Jew,  to  present  their  case 


120          JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

from  their  own  standpoint,  and  not,  as  is  so 
often  done,  as  a  mere  foil  to  the  Christian 
religion.  This  is  one  reason  why  I  have  not 
referred  to  the  writings  of  other  scholars, 
except  in  the  one  case  of  Weber.  He  is  typi- 
cal of  fhem  all  in  their  attitude  towards  rab- 
binical Judaism."  And  further:  "Pharisa- 
ism is  usually  judged  from  the  outside,  as 
seen  by  not  very  friendly  eyes ;  and,  even  of 
those  Christians  who  have  studied  the  Phar- 
isaic literature  and  who  thus  know  it  to  some 
extent  from  the  inside,  there  are  few  who 
seem  able  to  imagine  what  it  must  have  been 
to  those  whose  real  religion  it  was.  *  *  *  The 
knowledge  will  be  chiefly  valuable  if  it  helps 
the  reader  to  realize  that  the  Pharisees  were 
'men  of  like  passions  with  us/  men  with  souls 
to  be  saved,  who  cared  a  great  deal  for  things 
of  the  higher  life,  men  who  feared  God  and 
worked  righteousness,  and  who  pondered 
deeply  upon  spiritual  questions,  though  they 
did  not  solve  them  upon  Christian  lines,  nor 
state  the  answers  in  Christian  terms."  *  *  * 
"And  I  hope  that  when  I  have  done,  I  shall 
have  left  with  the  reader  some  clear  idea  of 
who  the  Pharisees  were  and  what  they  stood 
for,  and  a  more  just  appreciation  of  them 
than  is  indicated  by  the  word  'hypocrites/  " 
And  in  the  last  chapter  of  the  book,  we  find 
these  emphatic  words:  8"He  (Weber)  must 
have  been  perplexed  by  the  want  of  the 
agreement  amongst  his  authorities,  but  he 
got  over  that  by  regarding  the  more  promin- 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS          121 

ent  doctrine  as  the  rule,  and  the  other  as  the 
exception ;  the  former  was  a  part  of  the  sys- 
tem, the  latter  was  aberration.  Christian 
scholars  are  pathetically  grateful  to  Weber 
for  having-  given  them  an  orderly  and  meth- 
odical arrangement  of  the  medley  of  Phar- 
isaic doctrines ;  certainly  he  has  done  so ;  but 
with  as  much  success  and  as  much  truth  as 
if  he  had  described  a  tropical  jungle,  believ- 
ing it  to  be  a  nursery-garden." 

How  different  these  words  are  from  those 
which  we  find  in  the  classic  masters  of  Chris- 
tian theology!  The  very  unfair  attitude  has 
become  so  classic  that  it  is  almost  beating 
against  a  stone-wall  to  cry  for  a  change.  In 
reading  the  various  standard  works  of  some 
of  the  best  known  Christian  scholars,  one  gets 
the  opinion  that  they  not  only  do  not  know  the 
Jewish  sources,  but  they  do  not  want  to  know 
them.  For  a  study  of  the  originals  is  not  out 
of  the  question;  they  are  accessible,  if  one 
really  wants  to  study  them. 

However,  one  is  not  forced  to  consult  the 
originals,  for  there  are  a  number  of  excel- 
lent translations  of  the  most  important  por- 
tions of  the  rabbinical  literature.  It  is  the 
fine  sense  of  justice  that  seems  to  be  lacking 
— that  sense  of  justice,  which  because  of  its 
absence  in  Christian  scholars,  caused  the  late 
Prof.  Schechter  to  speak  of  a  certain  kind  of 
scholarship  as  the  "higher  anti-Semitism." 


122          JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

The  Fatherhood  of  God. 

There  is  a  very  definite  relation  between 
one's  conception  of  God,  and  one's  relation 
to  society.  He  who  thinks  of  God  as  Creator 
and  Father  will  probably  regard  himself  as 
a  brother  to  his  fellow-men.  This  point  of 
view  becomes  an  exceedingly  important  one 
in  fhe  strivings  of  modern  society,  since  the 
basic  idea  of  brotherhood  is  one  of  the  great- 
est motives  we  have  in  the  solution  of  our 
social  problems.  The  steps  of  humankind 
upward  can  be  well  measured  by  ihe  progress 
of  this  ideal,  and  where  it  fails  to  influence 
men,  there  civilization  has  lagged.  The  strife, 
struggles,  warfare  and  murders  among  civil- 
ized mankind  indicate  how  much  this  teach- 
ing is  needed. 

Among  the  Jews  of  old  as  well  as  among 
those  of  our  days,  God  was  and  Is  the  Crea- 
tor and  Maker,  Shaper  and  Father  of  man- 
kind. This  thought  is  elemental  and  univer- 
sal. But  after  reading  religious  works  bear- 
ing on  the  contributions  of  the  Bible  to  life, 
we  are  invariably  led  to  believe  that  the  lofty 
sentiment  which  regards  God  not  only  as 
Creator  and  Maker,  but  also  as  Father,  is 
of  late  origin  and  use.5  It  was  Jesus  they  say 
who  read  into  the  word  "Father"  as  applied 
to  God,  a  meaning  hitherto  unknown  and  un- 
thought  of.  One  might  not  object  to  state- 
ments of  this  sort  were  they  made  in  a  man- 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS          123 

ner  which  did  not  belittle  the  faith  of  the  Old 
Testament,  and  take  from  'those  who  lived  ac- 
cording to  it,  that  credit  which  is  theirs  by 
right  of  thought  and  deed.  That  one  Jew  said 
something  original  and  lasting — this  is  neith- 
er new  nor  alarming.  But  that  this  same 
one,  later  made  into  a  deity*  eclipsed  all 
others,  simply  because  they  who  say  this 
do  not  know  or  care  what  the  others  did — 
that  is  a  different  matter.  Certainly  the 
facts  in  the  case  will  warrant  an  examina- 
tion. 

No  one  would  take  away  from  the  teacher 
in  the  gospels,  the  fact  that  he  felt  himself 
near  to  his  God,  and  that  he  conceived  a  re- 
lationship of  fatherhood  on  the  side  of  God 
and  sonship  on  his  own  side.  Nor  can  any 
one  deny  that  a  deep  tenderness  and  a  fer- 
vent piety  characterize  his  alleged  utterances 
to  his  Father.  But  did  not  the  psalmists — 
those  who  looked  to  their  Father  with  meek- 
ness and  longing ;  did  not  the  rabbis  who  felt 
themselves  at  all  times  in  the  very  bosom  of 
their  Father — did  not  all  of  these  look  to 
their  God  as  the  Father  eand  God  of  all  man- 
kind, equally  merciful,  equally  kind,  equally 
just  to  all?  With  Israel  there  was  a  special 
covenant  which  the  other  nations  had  7ref  us- 
ed. But  this  made  no  difference  in  the  rela- 
tion between  the  other  nations  and  God. 
"8Have  we  not  all  one  Father,  hath  not  one 
God  created  us  all,"  though  first  spoken  to 
Israel,  was  later  extended  to  include  all  man- 


124          JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

kind.  And  this  universal  idea  was  further 
carried  out  by  the  rabbinical  dictum :  "The 
righteous  of  all  nations  have  a  portion  in  the 
world  to  come." 

The  writers  of  the  gospels,  in  their  desire 
to  show  the  strong  filial  relationship  between 
Jesus  and  God,  attribute  to  him,  a  number  of 
passages  whidh  because  of  the  occurence  of 
the  word  "my"  before  Father,  become  ex- 
ceedingly narrow.  It  is  true  that  in  a  number 
of  other  passages  Jesus  put  the  word  "thy" 
or  "your"  before  Father.  But  it  is  strange 
that  in  all  the  gospels  the  word  "our" — which 
is  the  common  rabbinic  word  used  before 
Father,  occurs  only  once,  and  that  in  the 
Lord's  Prayer,  which  is  a  distinctively  rab- 
binical supplication.  Some  examples  of  pas- 
sages of  this  kind,  are  the  following:  ""Who- 
soever will  confess  me  before  men,  him  also 
will  I  confess  before  MY  Father,  which  is  in 
heaven ;  but  whosoever  shall  deny  me  before 
men,  him  will  I  &lso  deny  before  MY  Father 
which  is  in  heaven."  ""Not  everyone  that 
sayeth  unto  me,  Lord,  Lord,  shall  enter  the 
kingdom  of  heaven;  but  lie  that  doeth  the 
will  of  MY  Father  which  is  in  heaven." 
12"A11  these  things  are  delivered  to  me  of  MY 
Father,  and  no  man  knoweth  the  son  but  the 
Fattier;  and  neither  knoweth  any  man  the 
Father,  save  the  son;  and  he  to  whomsoever 
the  son  will  reveal  him."  ""Again  I  say  unto 
you,  that  if  two  of  you  shall  agree  on  the 
earth  as  touching  anything  that  they  shall 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS          125 

ask,  it  shall  be  done  for  them  of  MY  Father 
who  is  in  heaven.  For  where  two  or  three  are 
gathered  together  in  my  name,  there  am  I  in 
the  midst  of  them."  14"So  likewise  shall  MY 
Heavenly  Father  do  also  unto  you,  if  ye  from 
your  hearts  forgive  not  everyone  his  broth- 
er." ""And  I  appoint  unto  you  a  kingdom, 
even  as  My  Father  appointed  unto  me." 
""For  whosoever  shall  do  the  will  of  My 
Father  which  is  in  heaven,  he  is  my  brother, 
and  sister,  and  mother."  17"In  MY  Father's 
house  are  many  mansions,  if  it  were  not  so, 
I  would  have  told  you,  for  I  go  to  prepare  a 
place  for  you."  ""Blessed  art  t'hou,  Simon 
bar  Jonah:  for  flesh  and  blood  hath  not  re- 
vealed it  unto  thee,  but  MY  Father  who  is  in 
heaven."  19"And  behold,  I  send  forth  the 
promise  of  MY  Father  upon  you." 

Against  these  highly  particularistic  pas- 
sages ascribed  to  Jesus,  are  a  number  of  oth- 
ers by  him  which  are  broad,  universal,  and 
much  more  like  those  one  would  believe 
Jesus  uttered.  They  utilized  the  rabbinic 
conception  of  tihe  universality  of  the  Father- 
hood of  God,  and  they  occur  often  enough  to 
warrant  the  statement  that  he  felt  this  re- 
lationship very  deeply,  and  sought  by  its  fre- 
quent use  to  impress  it  upon  others.  What 
he  read  into  it  that  was  not  known  in  his 
days,  one  fails  to  ascertain.  The  following 
passages  which  universalize  God,  and  which 
occur  especially  in  the  Sermon,  are  emphatic, 
but  they  have  parallels  in  the  Old  Testament, 


126          JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY,  AND 

in  the  intertestamental  and  in  fhe  rabbinic 
literature :  20"Be  ye  therefore  perfect  even  as 
YOUR  Father  in  heaven  is  perfect;"  21But  I 
say  unto  you,  love  *  *  *  that  ye  may  be  the 
children  of  YOUR  Father  which  is  in  heaven ; 
for  he  maketh  His  sun  to  rise  on  the  evil  and 
on  the  good,  and  sendeth  rain  on  the  just  and 
the  unjust.  22Are  not  two  sparrows  sold  for 
a  farthing?  And  one  of  them  shall  not  fall  to 
the  ground  without  YOUR  Father.  And  call 
no  man  YOUR  Father  upon  earth ;  for  one  is 
YOUR  Father,  which  is  in  heaven.  "Even  so, 
it  is  not  the  will  of  YOUR  Father  which  is  in 
heaven  that  one  of  these  little  ones  should 
perish.  24If  ye  then  being  evil  know  how  to 
give  good  gifts  unto  your  children,  how  much 
more  shall  YOUR  Father  which  is  in  heaven 
give  good  things  to  them  that  ask  Him.  "Let 
your  light  so  shine  before  men,  that  they 
may  see  your  good  works,  and  glorify  YOUR 
Father  which  is  in  heaven.  28Ancl  when  ye 
stand  praying,  forgive,  if  ye  have  ought 
against  anyone,  that  YOUR  Father  also  which 
is  in  heaven  may  forgive  you  your  trespasses ; 
but  if  you  do  not  forgive  neither  will  YOUR 
Father  whidh  is  in  heaven  f orgtve  your  tres- 
passes. "But  love  your  enemies,  and  do  good 
and  lend,  and  never  despairing,  and  your 
reward  shall  be  great  and  ye  shall  be  the  chil- 
dren of  the  Highest ;  for  He  is  kind  unto  the 
untfhankf ul  and  the  evil.  Be  ye  therefore  mer- 
ciful as  YOUR  Father  also  is  merciful."  The 
verse  preceding  is  peculiar.  For  according 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS          127 

to  other  utterances  of  Jesus,  it  is  the  evil  and 
ungrateful  who  are  to  be  excluded  from  the 
Kingdom. 

The  use  of  the  word  "my"  and  "your"  in 
tihese  passages  land  others,  is  very  noticeable. 
One  would  expect  the  word  "our;"  as  it  is, 
one  feels  that  these  words  are  intended  to  im- 
press the  fact  that  Jesus  and  the  people  to 
whom  he  speaks,  are  not  on  a  par  in  their  re- 
lationship to  God,  buit  that  Jesus  stands 
nearer,  as  the  son  of  the  Most  High. 

The  Jewish  view,  of  course,  Is  different. 
According  to  Jewish  teachings,  all  -are  the 
children  of  God ;  He  is  their  Creator,  and  the 
thought  that  God  is  tihe  Father  of  not  only 
one  son,  but  many — though  indeed  Israelites 
— is  common  in  the  Old  Testament.  We  shall 
not  exhaust  the  list  of  references — and  like 
in  the  cases  above,  we  will  qudte  just  enough 
to  substantiate  tihe  assertion.  28t'Ye  are  the 
children  of  the  Lord  your  God"  was  siaid  by 
a  writer  in  Deuteronomy.  29"Is  not  He  thy 
Father  that  hath  gotten  thee?  Hath  He  not 
made  ttiee  and  established  thee?"  'Thus 
hath  said  the  Lord :  "My  son,  my  first-born  is 
Israel."  ""Look  down  from  heaven,  and  be- 
hold from  the  habitation  of  Thy  ^holiness  and 
Thy  glory  *  *  *  for  thou  lart  our  Father,  our 
Redeemer  from  everlasting  is  thy  name." 
""But  now,  O  Lord,  our  Fattier  art  Thou ;  we 
are  clay  and  thou  art  our  fashioner,  and  the 
work  of  thy  hand  are  we  all."  ""Can  a  woman 
forget  her  suckling  child,  not  to  have  mercy 


128          JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

on  the  son  of  her  body!  Yea,  should  those 
even  forget,  yet  would  I  not  forget  thee,  *  *  * 
saith  the  Lord."  ""Wilt  thou  not  call  unto  me 
from  this  time,  my  Father,  the  guide  of  my 
youth  art  Thou?"  35"When  Israel  was  young 
yet,  then  I  loved  him,  and  out  of  Egypt  did 
I  call  iny  son."  '"'Return,  0  backsliding  chil- 
dren, saith  the  Lord  *  *  *  I  thought  my  Fatfh- 
er  thou  wouldst  call  me,  and  that  from  me 
thou  wouldst  not  turn  away."  37"He  will  call 
unto  me,  'thou  lart  my  Father/  and  the  rock 
of  my  salvation."  38<<For  I  am  become  a  Fath- 
er to  Israel,  and  Ephraim  is  my  first  born." 
""Have  we  not  all  One  Father,  hath  not  One 
God  created  us  all?"  There  are  a  number 
of  psalms,  notlably  103, 106,  107, 108,  and  136, 
whidh  breathe  a  tender  and  passionate  mes- 
sage of  affection,  consideration  and  love ;  and 
with  these  can  be  classed  chapters  of  Job 
especially  the  thirty-eighth  and  tihirty-ninth. 
While  the  word  Father  is  not  mentioned,  God 
is  described  in  such  intim'ate  and  fatfherly 
terms  that  one  feels  his  nearness  just  as 
much  as  if  he  were  called  "Father." 

Like  the  Old  Testament,  the  later  litera- 
ture (has  a  well  defined  conception  of  God  as 
Fa/ther.  *°"O  Lord,  Father  and  Governor  of 
the  world,  leave  me  not  to  their  counsels  and 
let  me  not  fall  by  them.  41Be  as  a  father  unto 
the  fatherless,  and  instead  of  a  husband  unto 
the  mother,  so  sihalit  thou  be  as  a  son  of  the 
Most  High,  and  He  shall  love  thee  more  than 
any  mother  doth.  *2O  Lord,  Father  and  God 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS          129 

of  my  life,  give  not  a  proud  look,  but  turn 
away  from  thy  servants,  alw&ys,  a  haughty 
mind.  "But  thy  providence,  O  Father,  gov- 
erneth  it,  for  thou  hast  made  a  way  in  the 
sea,  and  a  safe  path  in  the  waves,  showing 
tlhat  thou  canst  save  from  all  danger,  yea 
though  a  man  went  to  sea  without  art.  "He 
(the  righteous  )professeth  to  have  the  knowl- 
edge of  God  and  he  calleth  himself  the  son  of 
the  Lord.  'There  declare  his  greatness,  extol 
him  before  all  the  living ;  for  He  Is  our  Lord, 
and  He  is  the  God  our  Father  forever.  "The 
(heavens  shall  be  opened,  and  from  the  temple 
of  glor£  shall  come  upon  him  (the  priest) 
sanctification,  with  the  Father's  voice  as 
from  Abraham  to  Isaac.  47And  after  these 
things  shall  a  star  arise  unto  you  from  Jacob 
in  peace,  *  *  *  and  the  (heavens  shall  be  open- 
ed unto  him,  to  pour  out  the  spirit  even  the 
blessings  of  the  Holy  Father,  and  he  shall 
pour  out  the  spirit  of  grace  upon  you,  and  ye 
shall  be  unto  him  sons  in  trutih,  and  we  shall 
walk  in  his  commandments  first  and  last. 
"For  he  shall  take  knowledge  of  them  that 
they  be  all  the  sons  of  their  God,  and  shall 
divide  them  upon  the  earth  according  to  their 
tribes." 

One  cannot  appreciate  the  injustice  of  the 
writers  who  misrepresent  Jewish  traditions 
until  one  glances  over  some  of  the  Talmudic 
passages  on  the  divine  Fatherhood  of  God. 
Only  a  few  will  be  cited.  We  shall  not  con- 
sider the  phrase,  "Our  Father,  Our  King," 


130          JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

which  is  so  plentf uil  in  the  prayers  and  the 
prayer-book,  and  which  has  been  treated  at 
length  most  capably.49  We  will  content  our- 
selves with  a  few  bits  of  evidence  tihat  the 
rabbinic  idea  of  the  Fatherhood  was  as  lofty 
and  inspiring  as  the  finest  uttered  In  the  gos- 
pels and  'that  too,  these  were  not  influenced 
by  Christian  thought.  50"The  ancient  pious," 
we  are  told,  "used  to  spend  an  hour  in  medi- 
tation so  that  when  they  prayed  to  their 
Faither  in  heaven  they  could  direct  their 
proper  attention  to  him."  51"The  Day  of 
Atonement  does  not  atone  for  one  unless  he 
first  acts  favorably  towards  him  whom  he 
has  offended ;"  Rabbi  Akiba  said,  "happy  are 
you,  0  Israel,  on  account  of  Him  before 
whom  you  may  be  purified — your  Father  in 
heaven."  ""Israelites  lift  up  their  eyes  to 
their  Father  in  heaven."  63"As  long  as  Israel 
will  direct  himself  to  God,  and  serve  with 
their  hearts  their  Father  in  heaven,  so  long 
will  they  prevail."  ""Blessed  be  the  God  of  Is- 
rael for  this  son  of  Abraham,  who  has  pene- 
trated into  the  glories  of  our  Father."  "In  the 
first  century  Jochanan  ben  Zakkai  referred  to 
the  altar  'as  "establishing  peace  between  Is- 
rael and  his  Father  in  heaven." 

In  speaking  of  ithe  death  of  various  teach- 
ers and  what  departed  with  them,  the  Mish- 
nah  says:  B8"Upon  whom  then,  shall  we  lean? 
Upon  our  Father  in  Heaven"  (or  upon  our 
Father  who  is  in  Heaven.")  67"To  Honi,  a 
very  pious  and  saintly  rabbi,  the  children 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS  131 

came  during  a  great  drouth  saying,  'Father 
give  us  rain/  "  Whereupon  the  saint  prayed : 
"O  Ruler  of  the  world,  for  the  sake  of  these 
little  ones  who  cannot  discriminate  between 
the  Father  who  giveth  rain  and  the  father 
who  can  only  pray  for  bult  cannot  give  rain, 
hear  my  prayers."  58"Sampson  judged  Israel 
as  did  their  Father  in  heaven."  B9"0ne  who  is 
blind  or  cannot  determine  his  direction,  shall 
direct  his  heart  in  prayer  to  his  Father  in 
heaven."  °°Judah  ben  Temah  said:  "Be  as 
strong  as  a  tiger ;  have  the  voice  of  an  eagle ; 
run  like  a  deer  and  be  as  powerful  as  a  lion  to 
do  the  will  of  your  Father  in  heaven."  "Josh- 
ua ben  Levi  said:  "Even  a  wall  of  iron  could 
not  separate  Israel  from  his  Father  in  heav- 
en." 62Rabbi  Jochanan  said  in  the  name  of 
Rabbi  Jochai:  "What  does  Scripture  mean 
when  it  says,  "for  I  am  the  Lord,  loving  judg- 
ment and  hating  robbery  with  burnt  offer- 
ings." It  is  like  a  parable  of  a  "king  of  flesh 
and  blood" — the  rabbinical  way  of  saying  a 
human  king  as  contrasted  with  the  divine 
King — "who  goes  to  the  custom  house  and 
says  to  his  servants:  'Give  me  some  tax 
money  for  the  tax  gatherers/  They  say  to 
him:  'Our  Lord,  does  not  all  the  tax  that  is 
gathered  belong  to  you?'  Then  he  answers 
them:  'Certainly,  but  I  want  all  travelers  to 
learn  from  me,  that  /they  may  not  try  to 
shirk  the  payment  of  their  tax/  Thus  is  it 
with  the  Holy  One,  blessed  be  He.  'For  I,  the 
Lord  *  *  *  hate  robbery  with  sacrifice.  From 


132          JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

me  let  my  children  learn  that  they  must  shun 
robbery/  " 

The  particularistic  passages  ascribed  to 
Jesus  show  a  relation  between  the  Father 
and  'his  creatures,  which  is  decidedly  inferior 
to  the  one  in  the  Old  Testament  and  the  rab- 
binical references  cited.  If  the  God  as  "Fath- 
er" idea  had  any  value,  it  lay  in  this,  that  it 
was  the  primary  basis  upon  which  was  built 
the  idea  of  the  complete  brotherhood  of  man- 
kind. To  feel  God  as  a  Father  Is  not  enough ; 
the  idea  must  be  complemented  by  the  feeling 
of  kinship  of  humankind,  and  the  particular- 
istic passages  certainly  do  not  bring  this  out. 
They  rather  put  mankind  at  a  lower  level  by 
putting  one  particular  person  between  it  and 
God.  The  Creatorship  expressed  In  terms  of 
the  Fatherhood  of  God  in  the  Old  Testament, 
and  in  fact,  in  the  other  Jewish  traditions 
made  all  men  kin  in  a  manner  not  conditioned 
by  the  acceptance  or  the  rejection  of  any  one 
personal  mediator.  Its  value  lay  Just  in  this 
broad  conception  of  an  all-including  Father- 
hood. It  is  true  that  the  universal  passages 
in  the  Old  Testament  at  first  applied  only  to 
the  community  of  Israel.  But  even  this  is 
broader  than  the  narrow  sense  of  the  particu- 
laristic passages  credited  to  Jesus.  It  must 
be  said,  however,  that  even  the  conception  of 
Israel's  sonship  was  later  broadened  out  to 
include  all  mankind,  just  as  later  Christiani- 
ty broadened  out  the  more  general  passages 
of  the  gospels.  There  are  more  than  fifty 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS          183 

passages  in  the  gospels  in  which  the  term 
"Father"  is  applied  to  God.  Of  these  about 
twenty  apply  this  relationship  only  with  re- 
gard to  Jesus.  The  rest  have  it,  as  in  the  other 
writings,  as  a  relation  between  God  and  those 
to  whom  or  of  whom  the  writer  or  the  utterer 
of  the  passagess,  is  speaking.  But  >a  decided 
broadening  of  the  term,  that  is  to  say,  a  uni- 
versalization  of  it,  was  very  well  known  to  Ju- 
daism long  before  the  teacher  of  Nazareth,  as 
anyone  who  knows  the  Jewish  sources,  can 
testify.  The  following  words  of  Harnack  can 
very  well  be  applied  not  only  to  Jesus,  but  to 
many  others  who  taught  before,  contempora- 
ily  with,  and  after  him:  ""The  very  apostro- 
phe, 'Our  Father/  exhibits  the  steady  faith  of 
the  man  who  knows  that  he  is  safe  in  God,  and 
it  tells  us  that  he  is  certain  of  being  heard." 
It  is  perhaps  asking  scholars  too  much  to  read 
the  Old  Jewish  liturgy.  But  it,  and  the  rab- 
binical writings -are  full  of  tender  apostro- 
phes of  (this  character.  It  is  not  true  that  to 
the  Jew,  God  was  a  far  away  transcendental, 
infinitely  distant  Lord.  It  is  just  the  opposite. 
"He  was  indeed  the  great,  Almighty  King, 
Creator  and  Father;  but  He  was  also  the 
just,  merciful,  long-suffering  and  compas- 
sionate One;  "He  was  the  Goodness  of  the 
world,  the  Life  of  the  world,  and  the  Father  of 
the  world."  The  old  Jews  were  indeed  near  to 
Him  and  He  was  their  "Strength,  their  Shep- 
herd, their  Hope,  their  Salvation  and  their 
Safety."  He  was  "near  to  them  in  every  kind 


134          JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

of  nearness."  65While  the  sages  so  fondly  pic- 
tured Israel  as  His  people,  and  as  His  first- 
born son  and  treasure,  there  were  other  sons. 
66"In  brief,"  says  Schechter,  "there  is  not  a 
single  endearing  epithet  in  the  language  such 
as  brother,  sister,  bride,  mother,  lamb  or  eye, 
which  is  not,  according  to  the  rabbis,  applied 
by  the  Scriptures  to  express  this  intimate  re- 
lation between  God  and  His  people."  We  have 
been  told  that  all  this  was  later,  and  that  it 
came  about  through  the  influence  of  the  New 
Testament  upon  Jewish  traditions  and  Jew- 
ish belief.  "They  who  know  what  the  rela- 
tions were  between  the  Jews  and  the  early 
Christians;  they  who  know  of  Ithe  inner 
struggles  of  the  early  church  itself,  and  they 
who  know  how  little  the  Jews  and  the 
early  Christians  had  to  do  with  each  other  at 
first,  and  how  the  Jews  were  persecuted  by 
the  Christians  later— they  will  realize  how 
little  Christianity  could  have  influenced 
Jewish  thought  and  Jewish  life.  The  mat- 
ter does  not  need  discussion  here. 

The  conception  of  the  Fatherhood  of  God 
had  become  very  common  during  the  rise  of 
rabbinical  literature,  and  Jesus  used  the  idea 
— used  it  much,  and  used  it  well.  If  he  ut- 
tered the  particularistic  passages  and  felt 
that  he  lived  more  righteously  than  others, 
— nearer  to  God  and  His  commandments — 
and  therefore  was  justified  in  singling  him- 
self out,  he  did  what  they  at  all  times  did, 
"who  felt  that  spiritual  refinement  and  ferv- 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS          135 

ent  piety  brought  them  nearer  to  their  Crea- 
tor. In  fact  it  was  for  this  that  the  Jew  lived, 
but  he  did  not  deny  that  same  privilege  to 
others.  This  indeed  was  his  mission,  and  for 
this  was  he  created.  Recall  the  words  of  Joch- 
anan  ben  Zakkai:  89"If  thou  hast  learnt  much 
Torah,  ascribe  not  any  merit  to  thyself,  for 
for  that  purpose  wast  thou  created."  One  dis- 
likes to  believe  that  Jesus  really  uttered  the 
particularistic  passages  ascribed  to  him. 
They  seem  rather  the  words  of  non-Jewish 
followers  who  had  as  little  knowledge  of 
Jesus'  Jewish  idea  of  the  Fatherhood  of  God, 
as  some  who  deny  it  have  today.  Like  the 
prophets,  like  the  psalmists,  like  the  sages 
of  his  own  day,  he  seems  to  have  felt  that 
God  was  the  Father  of  those  to  whom  he 
spoke ;  that  their  prayers  were  to  be  directed 
to  Him,  that  he  was  the  All  Good,  All  Merci- 
ful, Fatherly  God.  His  idea,  at  any  rate  in  the 
general  passages,  like  that  of  the  Jewish 
teachers  was  a  broad  one,  and  he  doubtless 
believed  as  they  did,  70that  there  is  an  Al- 
mighty Father  who  looks  after  the  wants  of 
His  children ;  whose  love  is  abounding,  whose 
mercy  is  exceedingly  great;  who  is  gracious 
and  ever  compassionate,  and  who  teaches  his 
children  how  to  live,  how  to  understand  and 
how  to  fulfill  the  words  of  His  Law. 

It  is  generally  forgotten,  or  not  known,  by 
those  who  seek  to  read  into  the  sayings  of 
Jesus  an  originality  of  meaning,  that  a  uni- 
versal tenderness  had  already  been  attached 


136          JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

to  God's  Fatherhood  before  the  rise  of  the 
New  Testament.  They  say  that  the  Jewish 
idea  was  "national  and  narrow."  But  who 
has  yet  found  decisive  evidence  that  the  idea 
of  Jesus  was  broader?  I  speak  of  evidence 
within  the  New  Testament,  not  of  the  exter- 
nal evidence  of  professors  of  theology.  Not 
in  one  instance  have  we  any  clue  that  non- 
Jews  were  included  by  Jesus  in  his  Father- 
erhood  conception.  He  spoke  to  Jews;  the 
apostles  were  Jews;  and  those  who  heard 
him  were  almost  exclusively  Jews.  The  ex- 
pression "my  Father"  was  a  particularistic 
one,  and  he  certainly  does  not  apply  it  to  Gen- 
tiles ;  and  when  he  speaks  to  his  followers  and 
uses  the  term  "your  Father,"  or  when  he  has 
them  gathered  about  him,  71to  send  them  out, 
he  assuredly  does  not  send  them  to  Gentiles. 
Moreover,  did  Jesus  use  the  Greek,  Latin  or 
Aramaic  language  when  he  spoke?  It  is  easy 
for  us  to  overlook  nineteen  centuries  and  be- 
lieve that  he  spoke  in  Greek  and  to  Greeks,  or 
to  overlook  five  centuries  and  believe  that  he 
spoke  English  as  we  do.  It  is  easy  to  read 
the  term,  "my  father"  or  "your  father"  and 
interpret  it  as  "our  father."  But  let  us  not 
forget  that  Jesus  spoke  in  Aramaic,  and  that 
the  terms  he  used  were  Jewish  terms  whose 
meaning  Jews  knew,  and  which  were  the  ve- 
hicles of  their  mode  of  thinking.  It  was  Paul 
who  really  universalized  the  term  "Our  Fath- 
er" as  far  (as  Christianity  was  concerned, 
though  for  some  hundred  and  fifty  years,  this 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS          131 

process  had  been  carried  on  by  Israel,  while 
scattered,  when  many  who  had  not  known 
God  became  Jewish  converts.  Nay,  so  much 
had  already  been  done  toward  universalizing 
God's  Name  and  His  Fatherhood,  that  Paul 
found  easy  material  for  his  conversion  among 
those  who  had  become  Judaized,  and  had  ac- 
cepted the  Jewish  faith.  The  incident  of  the 
centurion  whom  Jesus  commended  above 
some  of  the  seed  of  Abraham  is  not  unparal- 
leled in  Judaism.  We  have  already  referred 
to  the  liberal-mindedness  of  the  sages  and 
rabbis  who  regarded  worthily  all  who  lived 
righteous  lives.  Numerous  stories  are  told 
of  the  very  high  esteem  in  which  righteous 
non-Jews  were  held,  even  to  the  extent  of 
inheriting  the  world  to  come,  In  which  un- 
righteous Jews  were  not  to  share.  There  is 
this  to  be  said  about  the  teacher  in  the  gos- 
pels: The  sayings  which  'are  attributed  to 
him  exhibit  a  deeply  religious  soul,  fervent  in 
its  closeness  to  God,  and  conscious  of  this  re- 
lation to  Him.  But  who  that  Is  acquainted 
with  Jewish  literature  will  say  that  Jesus  is 
the  only  Jew  whose  soul  was  linked  to  the 
Almighty,  and  whose  every  heart-beat  re- 
sponded to  the  holy  will  of  the  Divine? 

The  hope  expressed  by  thinking  men  today 
that  a  time  might  come  when  the  world  will 
unite  itself  in  the  Fatherhood  of  God  finds 
this  expression  in  the  modern  "Jewish  pray- 
er: "May  the  time  not  be  distant,  0  God, 
when  thy  name  shall  be  worshipped  over  all 


138          JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

the  earth,  when  unbelief  shall  disappear,  and 
error  be  no  more  *  *  *  May  all  created  in  thine 
image,  recognize  they  are  brethren,  so  that 
they,  one  in  spirit  and  one  in  fellowship  may 
be  forever  united  before  thee.  Then  shall  thy 
Kingdow  be  established  on  earth,  and  the 
word  of  thine  ancient  seer  be  fulfilled.  The 
Eternal  shall  rule  forever  and  aye.  7SOn  that 
day,  the  Lord  will  be  One,  and  His  name  will 
be  One." 

Throughout  all  these  ages,  this  world-hope 
has  come  down  to  mankind  and  has  now  be- 
come an  ideal,  and  a  uniting,  cementing  con- 
ception. Thoroughly,  originally  and  vitally 
Jewish,  it  appeals  to  us  'through  all  of  our 
religious  inspiration,  urging  us  onward,  to  es- 
tablish between  ourselves  and  our  fellowmen 
a  kinship  founded  on  God's  Fatherhood. 
What  a  profound  social  effect  a  sincere  ap- 
plication of  this  conception  would  have  upon 
our  rivalries,  our  struggles,  our  injustices, 
and  our  selfishness ! 


The  Brotherhood  of  Man  and 
Brotherly  Love. 

In  the  discussion  of  brotherhood  and  love, 
or  as  some  prefer  to  say,  brotherly  love,  we 
start  where  Christianity  ought  to  start, 
namely,  with  the  Levitical  injunction, 
'"'Thou  shalt  love  thy  brother  as  thyself." 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS          139 

The  Jew  who  uses  this,  however,  uses  what 
is  his  own,  while  the  Christian  borrows  this 
from  the  Pentateuch.  The  idea  of  brotherly 
love  is  perhaps  the  richest  ethical  possession 
of  Christianity;  perhaps  this  is  the  reason 
why  Christians  so  often  overlook  the  orig- 
inal source. 

The  accusation  has  often  been  made  that 
the  injunction  as  originally  given  never  was 
intended  to  be  universal,  and  that  the  term 
"neighbor"  in  it  referred  only  to  fellow-He- 
brews. Aside  from  the  fact  that  this  is  not  so, 
the  application  in  the  gospels  must  then  also 
be  so,  for  both  times  was  it  spoken  to  Israel- 
ites. The  universality  of  this  injunction  and 
another  almost  exactly  like  it,  can  be  proved 
from  another  context,  in  which  almost  the 
same  words  are  used,  and  in  which  the  mean- 
ing is  identical.  7B"And  if  a  stranger  sojourn 
with  thee  in  any  land,  ye  shall  not  vex  him; 
as  one  born  in  the  land  among  you,  shall  be 
the  stranger  that  sojourns  with  you,  and  thou 
shalt  love  him  as  thyself.  For  ye  were  stran- 
gers in  the  land  of  Egypt."  The  word  "neigh- 
bor" does  not  occur  here;  but  the  term 
"stranger"  is  even  stronger,  and  most  decis- 
ively refutes  the  accusation  that  the  love 
commanded  was  intended  only  for  a  fellow- 
Hebrew.  Even  in  those  days,  the  Hebrews 
had  seen  enough  to  open  their  eyes  to  heart- 
less hatred  born  of  national  narrowness,  and 
they,  not  a  later  one  who  sprang  from  their 
loins,  first  gave  forth  the  word  which  may, 


140          JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

when  we  shall  have  taken  it  to  heart  suffici- 
ently, help  to  make  away  with  groundless 
prejudices.  Yet  even  before  this,  if  the  re- 
sults of  the  higher  cricisim  be  adopted  in 
judging  the  chronology  of  the  Biblical  books 
— Israel  had  already  been  commanded  76"not 
to  abhor  an  Edomite,  for  he  is  thy  brother" 
and  "not  to  abhor  and  Egyptian,"  because  he 
was  a  "stranger  in  his  land." 

Nor  was  the  idea  of  brotherly  love  confined 
only  to  the  Five  Books.  It  had  become  a  part 
of  the  social  life  of  the  Israelitish  people; 
perhaps  not  of  all  Israelites,  was  this  true. 
Nor  could  it  be  expected,  if  so  few  among  us 
even  2000  years  after  the  newer  dispensation 
practice  so  little  of  it.  Yet  not  even  from  one 
generation  of  teachers  was  it  lost.  The  pro- 
phetic insistence  was  no  less  strong  than  the 
Mosaic  or  Pentateuchal,  and  the  voices  of  the 
prophets  found  reverberating  echoes  in  the 
teachings  of  the  rabbis.  The  corruption  of 
the  kings  and  their  followers  who  sought  to 
engulf  the  ideals  of  Judaism  in  the  foreign 
cults  which  they  introduced,  was  overcome 
by  the  power  of  the  prophetic  appeal ;  and  the 
smoke  of  thousands  of  sacrifices  did  not 
choke  the  voices  of  those  whom  that  prophet 
represented,  who  thundereth  forth:  ""Love, 
I  desire,  not  sacrifice."  The  vain  burn  offer- 
ings and  the  empty  sacrifices  of  splendor 
found  more  than  a  lasting  opponent  in  the 
spirit  of  that  mighty  Micah  whose  words  will 
live  long  after  heathen  cults  shall  have  been 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS          141 

forgotten,  and  whose  conception  will  endure 
as  long  as  man  has  faith  in  his  Maker.  For 
him  religion  has  its  origin  not  in  externals 
and  rites,  but  in  the  very  heart  of  humankind 
itself;  and  what  he  said  is  not  like  the  sacri- 
fice which  may  be  consumed  by  a  short-lived 
ritual  fire;  rather  is  it  eternal  like  the  un- 
quenchable fire  of  the  soul  itself:  ""Where- 
with shall  I  come  before  the  Lord,  and  bow 
myself  before  the  Most  High?  Shall  I  come 
before  Him  with  burnt  offerings,  with  calves 
a  year  old;  will  the  Lord  be  pleased  with 
thousands  of  rams  or  with  myriads  of 
streams  of  oil;  He  hath  told  thee  0  man, 
what  is  good  and  what  the  Lord  doth  require 
of  thee:  But  to  do  justice,  to  love  kindness, 
and  to  walk  humbly  with  thy  God."  Who 
can  say  that  this  does  not  define  brotherli- 
ness  as  the  very  essence  of  religion?  The 
more  so  is  this  true  in  the  light  of  the  man- 
ner in  which  the  rabbis  defined,  ""walking 
with  God,"  namely,  the  being  like  Him,  mer- 
ciful, compassionate,  tender  and  just. 

To  the  Biblical  teachers,  the  virtue  of 
brotherly  love  was  second  in  importance  to 
justice,  and  the  -number  of  references  is  not 
as  large  as  one  could  desire.  But  neither  is 
there  a  multiplicity  of  such  references  in  the 
New  Testament,  though  from  pretensions 
made  by  ministers  and  theologians,  we  might 
think  that  this  ideal  occupied  a  place  of  no 
small  importance  on  every  page.  As  a  matter 
of  fact  the  New  Testament  passages  on 


142          JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

brotherly  love  are  so  few  that  one  feels  that 
without  the  references  to  the  Old  Testament, 
the  New  Testament  has  contributed  very  lit- 
tle to  this  noble  ideal.  But  possibly  the  reas- 
on that  so  little  'appears,  is  the  fact  that  this 
teaching  already  was  a  deeply-rooted  one  in 
the  minds  of  Jesus  (and  his  immediate  follow- 
ers and  their  contemporaries.  It  was  taken 
for  granted — and  it  didn't  require  nearly  as 
much  emphasis  then,  as  it  does  now.  The 
Golden  Rule  and  the  parable  of  the  Good  Sa- 
maritan are  the  best  of  the  near-original  con- 
tributions on  this  matter.  The  "rule"  has 
its  counterpart  and  prototype  in  the  famous 
words  of  Hillel  already  quoted.  80"What  is 
hateful  unto  thee,  do  thou  not  do  to  anyone 
else."  But  of  all  that  we  find,  there  is  noth- 
ing more  sublime  whether  in  the  Old  or  the 
New  dispensation  than  the  words  of  'a  writer, 
whose  name  though  unknown,  shall  yet  live 
on :  81"Wheref ore  have  we  fasted,  and  thou 
seest  us  not?  Have  we  afflicted  ourselves 
and  thou  regardest  us  not?  *  *  *  Is  this  the 
fast  that  I  have  chosen,  a  day  that  a  man  af- 
flicteth  his  soul  *  *  *  Is  not  this  rather  the 
fast  that  I  have  chosen — to  open  the  snares 
of  wickedness,  to  undo  the  bands  of  the  yoke ; 
to  let  the  oppressed  go  free;  and  to  break 
asunder  every  yoke?  Is  it  not  to  distribute 
thy  bread  to  the  hungry,  and  to  bring  the  af- 
flicted poor  into  thy  house;  when  thou  seest 
the  naked  that  thou  shouldst  clothe  him,  and 
that  thou  shouldst  not  hide  thyself  from 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS  143 

thine  own  flesh?  If  thou  remove  from  the 
midst  of  thee  the  yoke,  the  stretching  out  of 
the  finger,  and  the  speaking  wickedly;  if 
thou  pour  out  to  the  hungry  thy  soul  and 
satisfy  the  afflicted  soul,  then  shall  thy  light 
shine  forth  in  the  darkness  and  thy  obscuri- 
ty be  as  a  noonday  *  *  *  and  thou  shalt  be 
called  the  repairer  of  the  breaches  and  the 
restorer  of  paths  to  the  dwelling-place." 

We  have  already  intimated  that  we  could 
wish  to  find  in  the  Bible  much  more  than  we 
do  on  the  topic  that  has  now  become  one  of 
the  world's  cherished  ideals.  The  paucity  is 
the  more  marked  simply  because  so  much  has 
been  made  of  the  idea  both  by  the  church  and 
society.  The  theological  books  on  the  New 
Testament  which  contain  so  much  upon  this 
theme  are  elaborations  of  their  own  author's 
ideas,  not  the  thoughts  and  sayings  of  the 
Biblical  writers,  and  all  that  the  Bible  says  on 
"brotherly  love"  can  be  encompassed  in  a 
very  few  pages  of  an  octavo  size  volume. 
Much  more  is  found  in  the  later  sources,  es- 
pecially the  Talmudic.  We  should  keep  in 
mind  that  brotherly  love  in  the  broad  sense 
that  we  give  it,  is  a  comparatively  modern 
ideal  and  one  that  is  the  outgrowth  of  the 
complexity  of  modern  society.  Even  in  our 
days,  with  all  of  our  education  and  broad- 
mindedness,  we  look  down  upon  those  who 
are  of  another  race  or  color.  And  prior  to 
the  great  war  our  masses  found  it  very  diffi- 
cult to  apply  the  principle  of  brotherly  love 


144          JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

to  any  but  Americans — and  then  not  all 
Americans  were  included  in  our  love.  Differ- 
ences of  faith,  sectional  strife  and  racial 
characteristics,  make  decidedly  difficult  the 
application  of  this  ethical  teaching,  and 
among  the  ancients  also,  racial  distinctions, 
tribal  differences,  and  national  hatred  made 
impossible  that  universal  interpretation 
which  many  moderns  give  to  the  Bible  com- 
mandments of  love.  We  must  not  forget  his- 
torical impossibilities,  and  we  must  see  the 
whole  life  of  both  the  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ment peoples  in  their  true  perspective.  In 
the  Occident  we  may  well  say  that  "love  your 
neighbor  as  yourself"  could  be  applied  to  us  in 
our  relation  with  any  nation  anywhere  or 
anybody  anywhere.  We  here  may  feel  that 
now  that  we  know  mankind,  we  may  learn  to 
love  anyone  whether  he  be  of  our  faith  or  not, 
or  of  our  nation  or  not.  We  know  that  hu- 
man nature  is  alike  all  over;  that  there  are 
good  men  and  bad  men  among  all  people,  all 
nations  and  all  faiths.  But  how  could  so 
wide  a  meaning  have  been  given  to  these 
words  by  the  Law-giver  himself  in  Leviticus, 
who  spoke  only  to  Hebrews  and  knew  only 
their  immediate  neighbors,  or  by  Jesus  who 
spoke  only  to  Jews  ?  The  best  that  can  be  said 
is  that  these  commandments  certainly  did 
apply  to  non-Hebrews  or  non-Jews  who  lived 
among  the  Israelites  when  these  words  were 
uttered.  But  the  time  was  not  ripe  for  giv- 
ing these  words  a  universal  application.  Nor 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS          145 

are  they  given  this  today  except  by  so  few 
that  the  number  is  hardly  large  enough  to 
be  considered.  It  is  an  extremely  high  ideal, 
and  one  not  easily  realized.  Some  years  ago 
it  seemed  as  though  civilized  mankind  was  on 
the  road  to  a  deeper  appreciation  of  the  im- 
portance of  this  great  teaching.  But  the  hor- 
rible violations  of  every  rule  of  civilized  war- 
fare by  the  Central  Powers  has  set  this  hope 
back  again,  unless,  indeed,  it  be  that  the  hor- 
ror of  their  acts  may  so  affect  men  that  they 
will  see  with  quicker  understanding  the  beau- 
ty and  the  worth  of  brotherly  love — both  in 
war  and  in  peace. 

In  this  connection  we  may  indicate  the  ut- 
ter futility,  in  matters  of  practice,  of  the  oft- 
quoted  precept  of  Jesus:  ""But  I  say  unto 
you  that  hear,  love  your  enemies;  do  good 
to  them  that  hate  you ;  bless  them  that  curse 
you,  and  pray  for  them  that  despitefully  use 
you;  to  him  that  smiteth  you  on  the  one 
cheek,  give  him  the  other  also,  and  from  him 
that  taketh  away  thy  cloak,  withhold  not  thy 
coat  also ;  give  to  everyone  that  asketh  thee, 
and  of  him  that  taketh  -away  thy  goods,  ask 
them  not  again."  Nationally,  as  well  as  in- 
dividually, this  precept  is  impossible  of  reali- 
zation. Just  think  for  a  minute  where  we 
would  be — where  the  civilized  world  would  be 
— if  we  had  applied  this  principle  in  our  re- 
cent crisis,  and  permitted  ourselves  and  the 
civilzed  world  to  be  deprived  and  robbed  of 


146          JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

every  avenue  of  industry  and  achievement 
which  contributes  to  life! 

And  yet  the  murders,  the  depredations  and 
the  violations  of  civilized  warfare  are  being 
committed  by  Christian  nations — and  the 
consuming  irony — the  arch-fiend  of  the  Cen- 
tral Powers  claims  God  as  his  aid!  He  was 
the  nominal  head  of  the  Church  In  Germany, 
and  the  Christians  whom  he  governed  are  also 
disciples  of  Jesus.  What  a  terrible  inconsist- 
ency, what  a  travesty  on  religion,  what  a  vio- 
lation of  these  magnificent  words  are  the  acts 
of  the  socalled  Christian  nations !  The  matter 
would  be  one  of  lighter  vein  had  these  coun- 
tries not  been  fighting  supposedly  in  his 
name  and  for  his  principles.  And  indeed  is 
this  not  but  a  repetition  of  what  has  been  go- 
ing on  for  these  twenty  centuries — the  be- 
lieving in  one  thing,  the  doing  of  another? 
One  often  wonders  what  would  be  the  mental 
state  of  the  Galilean  teacher  if  he  perchance 
would  return  and  find  his  Jewish  teachings, 
renamed  and  appropriated  by  others,  but  yet 
violated  in  almost  every  respect  by  those 
very  ones  who  claim  him  as  their  own,  and 
who  acknowledge  him  as  their  law-giver  and 
savior.  No  more  beautiful  words  and  no  finer 
sentiment  towards  enemies  was  ever  uttered ; 
yet  quoted  and  requoted,  taught  and  learned 
by  all  Christendom — it  still  is  only  a  senti- 
ment, whose  practice  is  universally  unknown. 

To  revert  again  to  "brotherly  love."  While 
it  is  true  that  the  Central  Empires  violated 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS          147 

every  rule  of  conduct  in  their  relations 
with  their  enemies,  let  us  not  forget  the  big- 
oted prejudices  within  our  own  country.  The 
law  of  brotherly  love  preached  every  Sunday 
to  millions  of  people,  finds  as  little  realization 
among  the  masses  as  do  many  other  of  the 
great  commandments.  And  many  of  those 
very  ones  who  call  themselves  after  the  name 
of  Jesus  are  the  worst  offenders.  The  Chris- 
tian ministers  have  a  duty.  It  is  the  sacred 
duty  of  teaching  their  parishioners  to  ex- 
terminate the  vile  prejudice  that  exists  in 
clubs,  hotels,  fraternities,  and  sororities, 
against  the  blood  and  flesh  descendants  of 
their  savior.  One  would  not  expect  anti-Sem- 
itic prejudice  in  America;  yet  it  exists,  and 
its  poisonous  influence  is  given  almost  free 
play.  It  has  been  truthfully  said  that  if 
Jesus  were  to  return  to  earth,  he  would  turn 
away  in  wretched  despair  from  those  who 
presume  to  be  his  followers,  and  seek  con- 
solation and  peace  among  those  lowly  co-re- 
ligionists of  his,  into  whose  faith  he  was 
born,  of  whose  ancestors'  flesh  and  bone  he 
was  a  part,  but  who  now  are  deemed  of  clay 
inferior  to  that  of  the  modern  banner-bearers 
of  the  precepts  of  this  ancient  teacher. 

There  is  something  more  to  be  said  about 
the  command  of  Jesus,  83"to  him  that  smit- 
eth  thee  on  the  one  cheek  offer  also  the  oth- 
er ;  and  from  him  that  taketh  away  thy  cloak, 
withhold  not  thy  coat  also."  This  was  not 


148          JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

a  rabbinical  principle.  The  rabbis  were  stu- 
dents of  human  nature — they  knew  human 
instincts  and  human  habits  of  mind.  If  they 
did  not  have  a  Darwin,  a  Wallace  or  a  Spen- 
cer, they  still  knew  that  self-preservation 
was  the  first  law  of  nature  and  they  knew 
that  a  human  being  will  not  ordinarily  per- 
mit himself  to  be  injured  and  robbed  with- 
out defense  or  retaliation.  They  did,  how- 
ever, approach  the  principle  here  set  forth 
by  Jesus.  Indeed  there  are  some  author- 
ities who  say  that  this  is  but  an  extension 
of  the  rabbinical  principle,  84"acting  with- 
in the  limits  of  justice,"  that  is  to  say,  act- 
ing more  than  justly.  Be  this  as  it  may,  the 
very  fundamental  idea  of  self-preservation  is 
here  involved,  and  men  will  not  do  that  which 
openly  and  surely  means  danger  to  them- 
selves. After  all,  if  an  ideal  is  valuable  prag- 
matically, and  therefore  only  insofar  as  it 
may  serve  mankind  in  practice,  this  principle 
which  cannot  be  put  into  practice  must  lose  a 
good  deal  of  its  old,  especially  homiletic, 
value.  Is  it  not  true  that  whenever  mankind 
shall  reach  a  point  where  each  one  who  is  mis- 
treated will  court  more  mistreatment,  and 
each  one  who  has  been  taken  advantage  of, 
will  leave  himself  willingly  open  to  greater 
disadvantage — there  will  be  no  need  for 
ideals,  for  we  will  surely  have  passed  the 
stage  where  ideals  will  be  of  any  use ! 
One  need  not  spend  a  long  time  in  the 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS          149 

study  of  Jewish  sources  to  find  that  broth- 
erly love  was  a  very  potent  virtue  among  the 
Jews  who  lived  both  before  and  after  the 
new  canon.  In  the  second  century  before  the 
common  era — and  some  say  even  the  third, 
— the  writer  of  the  Book  of  Tobit  makes  him 
tell  his  son  85"to  do  that  to  no  man  which 
thou  hatest."  A  century  later  the  writer  or 
writers  of  the  Testaments  of  the  Twelve  Pa- 
triarchs, put  into  the  mouth  of  Issachar  this 
counsel  to  his  sons,  86"love  the  Lord  your 
God,  and  your  neighbor,  and  have  compassion 
on  the  poor  and  the  weak."  He  later  empha- 
sizes this  by  telling  them  what  he  did:  87"If 
any  man  were  in  distress,  I  joined  my 
sighs  with  his,  and  I  shared  my  bread  with 
the  poor.  I  loved  the  Lord,  likewise,  every  man 
with  all  my  heart."  Nor  is  this  traditional 
patriarch  the  only  one  who  feels  the  weight  of 
the  well-known  double  commandment.  Dan, 
too,  is  made  to  say  to  his  sons,  88"love  the 
Lord  thru  all  your  life  and  one  another  with  a 
true  heart."  89Benjamin  says  also,  "fear  ye 
the  Lord,  and  love  your  neighbor."  Some- 
times one  feels  that  it  must  have  been  in  a 
moment  of  prophetic  inspiration  that  the  au- 
thors wrote  these  words.  Surely  they  did  not 
foresee  that  later  they  would  be  needed  as 
evidence  that  these  virtues  were  commanded 
even  in  their  day. 

The   Talmudic  and   Midrashic   references 
are  plentiful.    Contrary  to  the  allegations  of 


150          JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

many  whose  knowledge  ought  to  be  pro- 
founder,  the  rabbis  believed  that  the  ^'be- 
ginning and  the  end  of  the  Torah  was  the 
doing  of  deeds  of  loving  kindness."  A  bit 
of  information  like  this  must  strike  rather 
heavily  upon  those  who  have  the  current 
opinion  of  the  belittled  pharisaic  rabbis. 

These  same  teachers  believed  that  ^"mer- 
cy and  compassion  are  the  great  virtues 
which  bring  with  them  their  own  rewards, 
for  they  are  recompensed  with  mercy  and 
compassion  from  the  mercy-seat  of  God."  In 
the  same  section  in  this  source  we  find  the 
thought  that  if  people  are  kind  and  merci- 
ful to  each  other  92God  will  be  merciful  to 
them.  And  further  on,  Rabbi  Samuel  bar 
Nehemiah  cries  out:  "Woe  unto  the  sinners 
who  have  perverted  loving-kindness."  There 
is  a  story  to  the  effect  that  when  Moses  com- 
manded his  people  to  93"walk  after  the  Lord 
your  God,"  they  took  alarm  at  this  task,  and 
they  asked  how  it  was  possible  for  man  to 
walk  after  God  94"who  hath  His  way  in  the 
storm  and  His  path  in  the  whirlwind,  the  dust 
of  whose  feet  are  the  clouds ;  95whose  way  is 
in  the  sea  and  whose  path  is  through  the 
mighty  rivers."  And  Moses  explained  as  we 
have  already  indicated,  96  that  to  walk  after 
God,  means  to  imitate  His  mercy  and  loving 
kindness  by  clothing  the  naked,  visiting  the 
sick,  comforting  the  mourner  and  burying 
the  dead. 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS          151 

What  have  we  not  heard  about  the  narrow- 
ness and  the  rigidity  of  the  Law?  Nothing 
has  been  too  opprobrious  for  the  pharisaic 
rabbis,  who  are  believed  to  have  twisted  and 
spoiled  what  little  good  there  was  in  Judaism. 
We  never  hear  of  the  gentleness  of  the  rab- 
bis ;  of  their  kindliness  and  their  humanitar- 
ianism,  of  the  sincerity  and  truthfulness 
which  characterized  their  lives  and  teachings, 
and  of  their  beautiful  patience.  The  stock-in- 
trade  books  have  no  room  for  this.  Yet  when 
we  turn  to  Jewish  sources,  there  is  nothing 
plainer  than  the  finer  characteristics  of  the 
Jewish  teachers,  sages,  rabbis,  and  their  dis- 
ciples. They  loved  mankind  and  believed  in 
human  worth  and  dignity.  The  verse  in  Gene- 
sis which  says  that  97God  created  man  in  His 
image,  "is  the  greatest  in  the  Torah,"  said  ben 
Azzai,  "for  look  how  it  exalts  man."  ^It  is 
true  that  Akiba  disagrees  with  him.  But  he 
says  that  the  verse,  "love  your  neighbor  as 
yourself,  is  the  greatest  principle  in  the  To- 
rah." In  another  place  we  are  told  that  God 
said  unto  Israel,  ""all  that  I  seek  from  you 
my  sons,  is  that  you  love  and  honor  each 
other."  The  words  of  Resh  Lakesh  remind 
us  of  certain  ideas  in  the  New  Testament: 
100"He  who  even  lifts  his  hand  against  his  fel- 
lowman,  though  he  does  not  smite  him,  is 
wicked.  In  commenting  on  the  verse  "thou 
shalt  not  hate  thy  brother  in  thy  heart,"  the 
rabbis  say:  101"0ne  might  think  that  one 


152          JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

ought  not  to  smite  his  brother,  or  injure  him, 
or  even  curse  him.  But  it  is  more  than  that. 
One  must  not  even  hate  his  brother  in  his 
heart."  There  might  have  been  some  haugh- 
tiness, some  self-complacency  and  hard-heart- 
edness  among  the  Pharisees  and  the  pharisaic 
rabbis.  But  certainly  the  few  such  are  so 
outnumbered  by  the  many  of  the  higher 
type  that  the  accusation  ought  to  be  forever 
silenced.  Was  tenderness  a  characteristic 
only  of  Rabbi  Yehuda,  who  said  that  he 
102who  violated  the  principles  of  loving  kind- 
ness, is  like  one  who  denies  a  fundamental 
principle  of  religion?  Was  there  only  one 
rabbi  who  commanded  his  students  to  be  of 
the  103< 'disciples  of  Aaron,  loving  peace  and 
pursuing  it,  loving  mankind  and  bringing  it 
near  to  God's  Law?"  Could  it  have  been  a 
bad  lot  who  taught  with  Rabbi  Elozer  that 
the  doing  104of  deeds  of  loving  kindness  is 
greater  even  than  almsgiving;  and  that  he 
who  105loves  his  neighbors,  who  is  near  to 
his  relatives,  who  marries  off  his  poor  sister's 
daughter,  and  who  lends  to  the  poor  in  times 
of  distress,  to  him  does  this  passage  in  Scrip- 
ture apply:  106"If  thou  seest  the  naked,  and 
thou  clothe  him — if  thou  hidest  not  thyself 
from  thine  own  flesh — then  shalt  thou  call, 
and  the  Lord  will  answer,  thou  shalt  cry  and 
He  will  say,  'here  am  I.' ' 

The  list  of  references  in  which  brotherly 
love  was  inculcated  is  not  exhausted.    They 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS          153 

would  fill  a  good  sized  volume,  nor  would  they 
be  dry  and  uninteresting.  The  sayings,  the 
parables  and  the  stories  are  many — no  won- 
der the  Jew  has  not  forgotten  them.  If  re- 
ligious precept  is  to  be  judged  by  result,  the 
charitable  endeavors  of  the  Jews  in  the  last 
few  years  alone  would  bear  incontrovertible 
evidence  of  the  lasting  power  of  their  pre- 
cepts of  loving-kindness  and  brotherly  love. 
There  are  some  things  that  all  Jews  do  not 
know ;  not  all  know  the  minute  details  of  the 
laws  regarding  a  (thousand  things  which  make 
up  the  religious  life  of  the  strictly  observant 
Jew ;  not  all  are  acquainted  with  the  prayera 
and  blessings  which  lit  up  the  path  of  the 
Jew  of  old,  when  all  about  him  was  thick, 
hopeless  darkness;  not  all  (the  Jews  know 
their  own  spiritual  truths.  But  there  is  one 
thing  that  every  Jew  knows;  there  is  one 
thing  that  every  Jew  feels ;  there  is  one  thing 
that  every  Jew  learns,  whether  from  his  par- 
ents or  from  experience,  and  that  is,  that  the 
heart  of  a  Jew  feels  deeply  for  anyone  that 
suffers.  He  knows  that  he  ought  to  be  char- 
itable, and  that  his  people  are  charitable,  that 
his  faith  is  charitable,  and  that  the  real 
essence  of  Jewish  philosophy  and  Jewish  life 
is  the  practice  of  the  social  virtues,  among 
which  is  not  the  least  important  are  loving- 
kindness  and  brotherly  love.  How  can  he  help 
knowing  this  ?  Through  the  successive  gener- 
ations of  all  his  forbears  he  has  heard  and  re- 


154          JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

heard  the  words  of  ben  Zakkai:  107"Do  not 
take  it  to  heart  that  the  Temple  is  in  ruins. 
There  is  left  a  means  of  atonement  as  good 
as  the  altar  which  was  destroyed.  It  is  the 
doing  deeds  of  loving-kindness — for  hath 
not  God  said,  108<I  desire  love  more  than  sac- 
rifice/ "  What  else  could  that  Jew  do  who 
still  calls  himself  by  the  name  of  Israel,  and 
believes  in  his  God,  when  a  thousand  teachers 
have  re-echoed  in  his  ears:  109"Be  like  God; 
as  He  is  gracious  so  be  you  gracious ;  as  He  is 
merciful  so  be  you  merciful."  How  it  hurts 
to  be  toid  that  only  with  the  new  dispensa- 
tion weie  the  gates  of  mercy  and  charity 
opened ! 

We  have  considered  only  a  few  of  the  New 
Testament  passages,  and  a  few  from  the  Jew- 
ish sources.  Our  purpose  is  to  throw  light 
on  the  idea  of  brotherly  love,  previous  to  and 
soon  after,  the  canonization  of  the  New  Tes- 
tament writings.  We  hope  that  we  have  cited 
enough  references  to  show  that  this  ideal  was 
distinctly  Jewish,  and  that  it  was  as  vital  in 
the  life  of  the  Jew  of  the  centuries  gone  by 
as  it  is  in  the  life  of  the  Jew  of  today.  For  a 
proof  of  the  latter  statement,  let  some  one 
tabulate  the  bequests  of  Christians  and  non- 
sectarians  to  Jewish  institutions,  and  those 
of  Jews  to  Christian  and  non-sectarian  insti- 
tutions. The  results  will  be  abundant  proof. 

110According  to  the  teachings  of  the  rabbis, 
the  path  to  salvation  in  this  world  and  to 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS          155 

bliss  in  the  next,  is  open  to  all  men.  Religious 
observances,  the  Temple,  and  sacrificial  ser- 
vices, are  not  indispensable  conditions  to  the 
attainment  of  these  goals.  Moral  purity  and  a 
loving  heart  are  the  major  requirements. 
Contrast  with  what  has  just  been  said,  the 
statement  of  the  Christian  theologian  Wendt : 
ulThe  pharisaic  scribes,  the  recognized  teach- 
ers and  patterns  of  righteousness  set  the 
worst  example  to  the  people  of  this  abuse  of 
the  Law.  They  expounded  the  Law  with  all 
manner  of  casuistical  subtleties  *  *  As  quib- 
bling sophistry  trifling  with  the  Law,  it  is 
ludicrous ;  but  it  is  revolting  when  we  regard 
it  as  the  teaching  of  a  religion  which  had  the 
highest  pretensions,  and  as  directing  men 
how  to  win  the  Divine  favor  and  eternal  life. 
And  what  evil  qualities  sheltered  under  the 
cloak  of  zeal  for  the  righteousness  of  the 
Law,  ambitious  vanity  which  vaunted  its  su- 
periority in  good  works;  haughty  self-com- 
placency, arrogantly  comparing  and  contrast- 
ing itself  with  others ;  uncharitable  and  harsh 
judgment  with  which  they  spurned  those  of 
less  righteous  repute,  and  hypocritical  zeal, 
which  under  the  pretext  of  reforming  others 
sought  but  to  enhance  their  own  reputation 
for  righteousness.  The  reproofs  leveled  by 
Jesus  against  the  Pharisees  show  us  plainly 
what  vicious  consequences  resulted  from  this 
external  zeal  for  the  Law."  And  to  prove  this 
gratuitous  outburst,  this  great  theologian 


150          JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

cites  not  one  passage  from  the  whole  Jewish 
literature  but  refers  to  another  German  work 
112;and  to  the  New  Testament!  Now  to  cite 
a  passage,  from  Lazarus,  the  great  Jewish 
theologian :  113"Perhaps  no  province  of  human 
activity  can  show  such  perfect  congruity  be- 
tween idea  and  life,  between  moral  require- 
ments and  actual  reality,  as  the  Israelitish 
race  has  attained  since  ancient  times,  in  real- 
izing the  humanitarian  idea  in  fulfilling  the 
requirement  of  charity.  The  soul  of  the  Jew- 
ish people  is  so  impregnated  and  enthralled 
with  the  duty  of  love  of  neighbor  that  it  is 
not  left  wholly  unperformed  by  individuals 
of  a  moderately  acute  moral  sense,  even  by 
positively  reprehensible  characters.  And  no 
wonder!  For  how  this  duty  has  ever  been 
urged  upon  the  people,  how  it  has  been  ex- 
pounded and  inculcated  from  every  point  of 
view !" 

Do  you  know  the  real  difference  between 
the  Christian  and  the  Jewish  author?  It  is 
one  only  of  knowledge.  Lazarus  was  thor- 
oughly at  home  in  Jewish  sources  in  which  he 
was  an  authority ;  Wendt  takes  his  view  from 
the  New  Testament,  bolsters  it  up  by  knowl- 
edge gained  at  second  hand,  and  then  violates 
all  canons  of  scholarship  by  totally  ignoring 
all  Jewish  sources.  If  he  doesn't  know  them, 
one  feels  he  ought  to  learn  them;  if  not  in 
the  original,  certainly  in  the  translations  of 
which  there  are  many.  What  a  perversion  of 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS  157 

fact  and  justice!  Can  Jews  who  know  even 
a  little,  imagine  Hillel  uncharitable;  Sham- 
mai  self-complacent;  Jochanan  ben  Zakkai, 
arrogant;  the  great  Yehuda  Hanassi,  self- 
righteous,  and  the  rest,  the  Joshuas,  the 
Eliezers,  the  Yehudas — all  seeing  things  with 
hypocritical  zeal  and  reforming  pretexts! 
What  a  travesty  upon  the  justice  of  Christian 
scholarship,  and  upon  the  Christianity  of 
Christian  apologetes!  Has  the  Jew  not  giv- 
en the  world  enough,  and  has  he  not  suffered 
enough  to  merit  at  least  at  the  hands  of 
specialists,  that  they  know  his  story  before 
publishing  false  and  unholy  judgments  of  it? 


Social  Justice 


Ask  a  laboring  man  who  has  been  on  a 
strike  or  who  is  dissatisfied ;  ask  a  labor  lead- 
er or  even  an  agitator,  what  the  cause  of 
the  trouble  in  the  labor  world  is,  and  invari- 
ably you  will  hear  the  reply,  "we  want  just- 
ice." The  idea  of  asking  for  and  getting 
that  which  labor  calls  "justice"  has  become 
a  very  obsession  not  only  with  the  wording 
masses  but  with  all  those  who  see  pointed  in- 
justices and  patent  iniquities  in  social  and 
industrial  life.  Men  want  bread  and  want 
the  time  which  will  enable  them  not  only  to 
eat  it,  but  also  to  enjoy  it.  They  want 


158  JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANTY  AND 

health,  strength,  leisure  and  opportunity  to 
grow.  Workers  feel  that  they  are  justified  in 
desiring  these.  We  need  not  encroach  upon 
any  of  the  economic  theories  to  realize  that 
when  fortunes  of  fabulous  sizes  are  accumu- 
lated on  one  side,  and  misery  and  wretched- 
ness indescribable  occur  on  the  other,  there 
is  something  wrong.  We  need  not  be  stu- 
dents of  political  economy  to  understand  that 
when  in  one  household  a  part  of  the  family 
is  overfed,  and  the  other  part  is  underfed, 
when  there  is  more  than  enough  for  all — a 
fact  which  is  evidenced  by  a  large  waste, 
there  is  a  matter  there  for  correction.  Nor 
need  we  be  philosophers  to  understand  that 
the  human  family  comprises  but  a  larger  and 
much  more  complex  household,  for  which 
too,  there  is  more  than  enough,  but  in  which 
many  are  underfed,  many  overfed,  and  much 
wasted.  The  child  of  the  worker  who  barely 
ekes  out  a  livelihood  is  entitled  by  the  right 
of  having  life,  to  have  also  those  advantages 
which  develop,  strengthen,  better  and  en- 
noble life.  The  end  of  a  life-time  spent  in 
contributing  to  a  community  the  best  of 
one's  efforts,  should  not  be  made  miserable 
and  wretched  when  these  efforts  can  no  lon- 
ger be  forthcoming.  The  weak  and  those 
unable  to  work  ought  not  to  be  bartered 
away  and  made  to  make  room  for  the  strong- 
er workers,  merely  to  increase  the  fortunes 
of  individuals,  while  being  made  thus  more 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS          159 

dependent  themselves.  And  where  this  is 
done,  those  deprived  through  inability,  ought 
not  to  have  to  starve,  to  degenerate  or  to 
commit  suicide,  when  we  are  more  than  rich 
enough  to  provide  some  kind  of  fair  and  hon- 
orable means  for  their  subsistence.  If  we 
need  and  seek  a  certain  kind  of  foreign  pop- 
ulation to  do  work  which  native  Americans 
do  not  do,  we  ought  to  provide  some  means 
for  taking  care  of  these  foreigners  until  they 
are  assimilated  by  the  process  of  Americani- 
zation, or  until  at  any  rate  they  earn  a  live- 
lihood, which  will  keep  them  from  becoming 
insane  from  privation,  or  deluded  by  false 
theories  of  economy  and  labor.  In  the  splen- 
did magnificence  of  our  untold  resources  we 
ought  not  to  have  want,  poverty,  and  wretch- 
edness except  in  such  instances  where  the 
breadwinners  through  sheer  laziness,  intem- 
perance or  unwillingness  bring  these  upon 
themselves.  But  children,  child-bearing  and 
nursing  women,  sick  and  decrepit  humans, 
ought  not  to  be  made  the  more  unhappy, 
when  the  exercise  of  justice  could  avoid  it. 
It  is  not  so  much  the  desire  for  luxuries  and 
splendor,  as  the  horror  of  dependence  and 
indigence  or  starvation,  that  causes  the  ha- 
tred and  clash  in  the  industrial  world.  The 
knowledge  that  breadwinners  make  too  little 
to  insure  independence  of  family  in  case  of 
illness  or  death,  makes  them  almost  desper- 
ate in  the  face  of  constantly  growing  for- 


160          JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

tunes,  increasing  wealth  of  the  country,  and 
withal  a  steady  increase  in  the  cost  of  living. 

It  is  the  cry  for  justice  that  accompanies 
the  industrial  disturbances  of  labor  out- 
breaks, and  though  the  cry  manifests  itself 
in  various  ways,  such  as  strikes,  lockouts  to 
prevent  strikes,  mob  violence,  and  even  bomb 
throwing,  yet  it  is  the  lack  of  justice  which 
is  the  fundamental  factor  in  the  dissatisfac- 
tion in  the  rank  and  file  of  the  workers. 

The  cry  for  justice  is  an  old  one;  it  was 
heard  in  Babylonia  and  Assyria;  it  resound- 
ed through  the  ranks  of  those  who  over- 
threw powerful  Egyptian  dynasties.  Greece 
and  Rome  were  certainly  not  strangers  to  it; 
and  Western  Europe  has  heard  it  so  often 
that  it  has  become  a  threatening  storm  cloud  ; 
while  Eastern  and  Southeastern  Europe  have 
taken  up  this  cry  under  the  guise  of  Bol- 
shevism, and  are  menacing  civilization  and 
life  itself.  Perhaps  as  good  an  example  as 
any  of  national  struggles  for  justice,  and  one 
which  is  closer  to  us  on  account  of  the  part 
played  by  the  Bible  in  our  national  life,  is  that 
of  the  early  Jewish  people.  Their  social  con- 
dition in  many  ways  was  analogous  to  our 
own,  and  though  of  course,  theirs  was  any- 
thing but  an  industrial  country,  there  were 
injustices  there  too,  on  the  part  of  the  greedy, 
the  corrupt  and  the  rich,  which  produced  con- 
ditions similar  to  those  we  normally  face. 
The  early  simplicity  of  Israel,  the  rapid 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS          161 

growth,  the  accumulation  of  wealth,  and  the 
indifference  and  the  injustices  of  the  classes, 
vvere  very  similar  to  ours.  Israel  had  passed 
from  the  rough  nomadic  state  to  that  of  the 
agricultural.  The  land  apportioned  to  the 
tribes  which  had  entered  Canaan,  had  passed 
through  different  hands,  and  the  new  ad- 
justment consequent  upon  a  complete  change 
of  social  conditions  had  gone  well  under  way. 
With  the  rise  of  the  kingdom  new  forces 
came  into  play,  and  with  these  new  forces, 
came  new  economic  conditions.  The  ideal 
ways  of  the  wilderness — ideal  now  during  the 
political  and  economic  changes,  served  to 
reawaken  in  the  hearts  of  many,  a  desire  for 
a  re-establishment  of  the  old  social  life.  114 
But  with  the  increase  in  population  and 
wealth  consequent  upon  the  broadening  out 
of  Israel  and  its  larger  life,  there  had  come 
what  always  accompanies  such  a  change, — a 
new  economic  and  social  era.  The  land  that 
was  formerly  parceled  out  to  the  different 
tribes  and  clans  was  gradually  being  bought 
up  or  taken  up  for  debts  by  individuals  or 
noble  families.  With  the  increase  in  re- 
sources there  came  more  distinct  divisions  of 
society  and  a  more  decisive  separation  of 
the  classes.  The  few  became  wealthier  and 
the  many  poorer.  With  the  establishment  of 
the  monarchy  Israel  took  its  place  beside  the 
nations  of  the  Orient ;  and  in  the  assumption 
of  national  pretensions,  the  standards  of  liv- 


162          JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

ing  became  more  complex  than  those  of  the 
earlier  agricultural  period.  The  splendor-  Ox 
the  Egyptian,  the  Phoenician  and  the  later 
Assyrian  and  the  Damascan  courts,  could 
not  be  noticed  without  effects  on  that  of  Is- 
rael's. Imitation  set  in,  and  as  this  pro- 
cess advanced,  a  gradual  displacement  of  the 
stern  and  homely  habits,  economic  and  so- 
cial, of  early  days  took  place.  As  the  more 
luxurious  habits  of  other  peoples  began  to  be 
noted,  those  of  Israel  who  had  the  desire, 
ability  and  wealth  to  imitate  them,  began  to 
do  so.  115From  the  ruddy,  healthy,  simple 
shepherd  folk  of  the  period  of  Judges,  there 
arose  a  complex  nation,  seeking  splendor  and 
elegance  and  aping  the  other  nations  in  their 
search  for  wealth  and  expansion,  but  find- 
ing within  itself  an  almost  impassable  rift 
between  the  economically  dependent  and  the 
other  and  smaller  class  which  enjoyed  to 
the  full,  the  recently  acquired  blessings  of  in- 
creasing wealth  and  growing  magnificence. 
A  population  of  Jewish  and  non-Jewish  pau- 
pers and  slaves  sprang  up.  116The  privileges 
of  the  Jewish  slave,  though  much  greater 
according  to  the  Law  than  those  of  the  non- 
Jewish,  availed  little.  Both  slaves  and  depend- 
ents, Jewish  and  non-Jewish,  were  used  as 
much  as  possible  to  serve  the  purpose  of 
those  who  had  been  favored  by  the  adminis- 
tration with  offices  and  posts  of  influence, 
or  who  had  friends  who  were  favorites  with 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS  163 

the  powers  in  control  or  who  were  themselves 
in  power. 

Just  as  it  was  true  that  it  was  the  object 
of  the  rich  and  the  influential  to  keep  the 
dependents  in  their  grasp,  so  was  it  equally 
true  that  as  long  as  the  latter  were  in  this 
condition,  they  could  never  rise  above  the 
want  line.  For  their  masters  had  the  keys 
to  whatever  solutions  would  solve  the  prob- 
lems involved  in  their  wretchedness.  Only 
by  subversion  of  the  interests  of  society  in 
general  could  the  interests  of  the  nobility  and 
the  rich  be  served,  and  in  this  subversion  the 
so-called  leaders  of  the  commonwealth  had  no 
small  share.  In  fact,  it  was  only  to  the 
mighty  prophetic  mind117  alone,  that  society 
was  composed  of  others  besides  the  nobility 
and  the  priesthood.  To  the  political  and 
priestly  leaders,  those  whom  we  designate 
by  the  phrase  "the  common  people"  were  of 
little  concern,  the  more  especially  after  they 
had  contributed  to  the  wants  and  power  of 
their  oppressors.  Opportunity  for  redress 
there  was  little.  For  it  seemed  that  the  prin- 
cipal duties  of  the  judges  and  administra- 
tors— priests  may  have  been  discharging  the 
duties  of  both — were  the  proper  taxing  and 
collecting  of  money  for  the  maintenance  of 
the  State  first,  and  then  for  the  sustenance  of 
those  very  ones  who  ground  down  the  poor. 
Nor  could  anything  else  be  expected,  when 
we  consider  that  these  officers  were  minions 


164          JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

of  the  king  who  held  their  places  by  virtue 
of  their  "pull"  or  influence  with  those  at  the 
Court. 

It  was  under  these  adverse  conditions  that 
the  rich  grew  richer  and  the  poor  poorer. 
Overwhelming  poverty  threw  many  into  the 
worst  moral  condition,  sapping  the  desire  for 
healthy  life  and  normal  growth.  Where  it 
is  difficult  or  impossible  'to  earn  a  decent  liv- 
ing, people  will  very  often  get  an  indecent 
and  immoral  one.  And  on  the  other  hand, 
where  wealth  is  acquired  without  regard  to 
method,  and  where  it  therefore  beclouds  the 
moral  and  ethical  sensibilities,  immorality 
and  vice  follow.  Thus  it  was  among  the  Is- 
raelites during  the  days  of  the  prophets.  Lack 
of  justice  and  righteousness  became  the  ob- 
sessing fault.  Unrighteousness  possessed 
alike  to  a  large  extent  the  rich  and  the  poor, 
the  judges  and  the  judged,  and  the  priests 
and  the  worshippers.  The  rights  of  others 
were  disregarded,  and  where  injustice  and 
corruption  could  be  of  any  avail  for  the  en- 
richment of  those  in  power,  these  were  re- 
sorted to.  Promises  of  luxury  and  bribes 
became  means  of  corruption,  and  where  these 
did  not  suffice,  oppression  through  the  tools 
of  those  in  power  was  made  use  of.  118There 
was  little  hope  for  righteousness  and  justice; 
for  corruption  cannot  beget  social  justice,  nor 
can  selfishness  be  the  parent  of  economic 
equality.  He  who  had  the  courage  to  speak 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS          165 

uprightly  or  dared  to  utter  words  of  pro- 
test, was  hated;  a  judge  who  gave  just  de- 
cisions was  abhorred,  while  those  who  profit- 
ed from  the  unjust  decisions,  from  the  op- 
pression of  others,  and  from  vice  and  brib- 
ery, grew  fat  in  the  enjoyment  of  their  feasts 
and  banquets.  The  wretched  condition  of 
the  dependents  interested  them  but  little. 
Their  main  desire  was  to  get  the  most  out 
of  life,  no  matter  at  what  expense  to  others. 
The  value  of  human  life  and  the  regard  for 
high  ideals  sank  in  the  general  degrada- 
tion of  the  extremely  rich  and  the  wretchedly 
poor,  and  a  slavish  materialism  took  the  place 
of  the  high  ethical  aims  and  aspirations  evol- 
ved and  taught  by  the  great  teachers. 

With  slight  changes  here  and  there,  the 
description  of  ancient  Israel's  development 
could  well  fit  us.  In  a  few  leaps  and  bounds 
we  have  emerged  from  a  small  nation  in  the 
extreme  West,  to  a  first  rate  power  wielding 
a  world-wide  influence.  Our  captains  of  in- 
dustry in  peace  times  command  empires  rich- 
er and  greater  than  kingdoms  of  days  gone 
by.  Our  fortunes  have  swollen  into  fabulous 
figures.  Our  power  has  grown  so  great  that 
comparison  with  that  of  a  century  ago  is  al- 
together out  of  question.  The  ancient  land- 
marks have  long  ago  been  removed,  and  they 
who  kept  apace  with  the  growth  of  the  land 
have  reached  a  commanding  position  of 
wealth  and  influence.  The  simple  agricul- 


166          JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

tural  life  has  to  a  large  extent  been  trans- 
formed into  a  fast,  nerve-racking  industrial 
one;  and  the  standards  of  living  have  so 
changed  that  we  can  hardly  believe  that  they 
were  as  simple  and  as  natural  as  they  really 
were.  New  ideals  have  loomed  up  before  the 
growing  generations,  and  that  which  was 
sought  after  half  a  century  ago,  is  now  sel- 
dom thought  of.  Our  habits  of  mind  and 
body  have  changed,  and  our  desires,  pleas- 
ures and  pastimes  have  their  birth  and  direc- 
tion in  new  surroundinges  and  under  new  con- 
ditions and  stimuli.  The  forces  which  mold- 
ed character  have  been  changed  and  in  many 
ways  corrupted;  and  the  growth  of  charac- 
ter itself  has  not  kept  apace  with  the  devel- 
opments in  the  fields  of  industrial  and  eco- 
nomic achievement.  We,  too,  had  set  our 
eyes  upon  the  luxurious  standards  of  other 
countries,  and  a  good  deal  of  our  old  sim- 
plicity has  given  way  to  continental  extrava- 
gance. It  is  true  that  we  do  not  have  the 
nobility  and  all  that  foppery  which  that  in- 
stitution carries  with  it.  But  we  are  rapidly 
developing  certain  traditions  with  regard  to 
wealth  and  family.  Wealth,  rather  than 
character,  is  more  than  likely  to  command 
position,  and  though  we  have  no  titled  class, 
we  are  unconsciously  developing  a  title  stand- 
ard, based,  if  not  on  the  possession  of  lands 
and  estates,  on  the  possession  of  money  and 
monied  interests.  The  poor  have  been  grow- 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS          167 

ing  poorer  in  the  proportion  that  the  rich 
have  become  richer,  and  the  higher  does  the 
standard  of  living  of  the  rich  grow,  the  lower 
does  that  of  the  dependent  become.  Never  be- 
fore did  it  cost  so  much  to  live ;  yet  never  be- 
fore has  the  earth  yielded  her  products  so 
bounteously.  The  cost  of  living  does  not  seem 
to  be  regulated  by  the  law  of  supply  and 
demand,  but  rather  by  the  ability  to  pay  be- 
cause wealth  seems  plentiful.  With  all  the 
increased  yield  of  farm  products,  the  num- 
ber of  poor  seems  to  diminish  but  little  pro- 
portionately. The  increased  wealth  goes  some- 
where, for  year  by  year  our  property  valua- 
tions grow.  But  it  is  the  large  fortunes 
which  seem  to  reap  the  benefits  of  our  in- 
creasing production,  while  the  poor  remain 
poor  and  the  dependents  are  still  among  us. 
The  desire  on  the  part  of  our  government 
to  regulate,  through  commissions,  the  price 
of  necessities,  and  its  success,  tells  a  tale  of 
unjust  price  manipulations,  and  suits  by  the 
Attorney  General  of  the  United  States,  throw 
some  strong  light  upon  the  arbitrary  setting 
of  prices ;  and  the  law  of  supply  and  demand 
seems  to  have  played  a  minor  part  in  the 
cost  of  many  commodities.  But  the  result 
in  general  has  already  been  stated :  Vast  for- 
tunes on  the  one  side,  an  imitating,  aping 
middle  class  straining  every  nerve  to  accu- 
mulate fortunes  in  the  centre,  and  enervating, 
grinding  and  dehumanizing  wretchedness  and 


168          JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

poverty  on  the  other  side;  a  point  of  view 
highly  materialistic;  a  perverted  idea  of  the 
purpose  of  life ;  a  blunting  of  high  ideals,  and 
a  consequent  deadening  of  those  sensibilities 
which  make  for  the  highest  type  of  char- 
acter. Men  are  willing  to  sell  their  labors, 
their  bodies  and  their  souls  for  money. 

It  was  for  the  purpose  of  displacing  a  con- 
dition like  this,  and  the  consequences  of  its 
moral  deterioration  that  the  great  prophets 
119preached  in  ancient  Israel.  They  lifted  their 
mighty  voices  against  a  confused  materialism 
and  pleaded  for  that  social  justice  and  right- 
eousness which  we  strive  for  in  this  twenti- 
eth century,  and  for  the  establishment  of 
which  we  threw  ourselves  into  the  great  war. 
They  believed  that  the  evil  lay  in  the  will- 
ful misunderstanding  of  the  true  relation  that 
should  exist  between  man  and  man.  They 
taught  that  the  deepest  devotion  to  God 
could  be  realized  only  by  the  fondest  service 
to  mankind;  and  they  decried  the  constant 
violation  of  this  great  teaching.  Within  their 
mighty  souls  they  felt  that  the  strength  of 
the  belief  in  their  God  lay  primarily  in  the 
interpretation  and  application  of  the  ethical 
teachings  arising  from  belief  in  Him,  and 
they  labored  for  an  active  and  virile  realiza- 
tion of  their  point  of  view.  120Their  philippics 
against  the  besetting  sins, — the  crushing  of 
the  poor,  the  taking  of  bribes  and  the  cor- 
ruption and  unrighteousness,  were  but  their 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS          169 

means  of  destroying  the  structure  which  an 
unsocial  and  an  unjust  viewpoint  had  erected. 
They  felt  that  their  nation  was  being  con- 
sumed by  the  wickedness  of  injustice  and  un- 
holiness;  they  feared  that  the  soul  of  their 
people  was  losing  its  finer  aspirations  in  the 
overwhelming  chaos  of  individual  and  na- 
tional demoralization.  121"Run  through  the 
streets  of  Jerusalem,"  says  Jeremiah,  "and 
see  if  you  can  find  one  man  who  deals  out 
justice  and  seeks  the  truth,  and  if  you  can, 
I  will  pardon  its  sins."  The  indictment  is 
strong,  but  this  condition  seemed  real  enough 
to  the  overwrought  mind  of  the  prophet. 

1220ut  of  the  general  degradation  incident 
to  the  breaking  down  of  the  religious  concep- 
tions, emanated  the  numerous  social  evils. 
Our  common  sins  in  times  of  peace  were 
theirs,  too — debauchery,  intemperance,  adult- 
ery, murder  and  the  rest.  The  idle  rich  had 
their  orgies  and  indulged  in  their  misdeeds, 
and  the  city  had  its  lewdness  and  its  shame. 
The  land  of  the  poor  was  appropriated,  and 
they  were  unable  to  get  juridical  satisfaction. 
123"They  hate  him  who  acts  righteously,  and 
they  take  from  the  poor  what  belongs  to  him, 
robbing  him  of  his  lands  and  his  crops."  This 
is  the  lament  of  Amos.  Many  there  were  who 
enjoyed  life  and  their  ill-gotten  splendor; 
there  were  those  who  called  the  evil 124  good, 
and  the  good,  evil,  that  put  darkness  for 
light,  and  light  for  darkness ;  that  called  the 


170          JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

bitter  sweet,  and  the  sweet  bitter.  But  only 
by  disregarding  or  blinding  themselves  to  the 
lofty  teachings  of  religion  and  right  living, 
could  these  obtain  the  kind  of  life  which 
wealth  on  the  one  hand,  and  moral  slothful- 
ness  on  the  other,  made  them  crave.  ^Un- 
righteous laws  were  made  to  benefit  particu- 
lar interests,  and  with  the  assistance  of  cor- 
rupt judges,  who  applied  judgment  wrongly, 
widows  were  made  a  prey ;  orphans  were  rob- 
bed; the  poor  were  put  at  a  terrible  dis- 
advantage, and  were  later,  when  the  struggle 
became  too  strong,  sold.  126Vanity,  luxury, 
bribery,  corruption,  oppression,  hopelessness 
and  violence' — these  seemed  to  combine  to 
swallow  up  the  needy  and  to  make  the  weaker 
more  wretched  and  miserable.  127And  many 
of  those  who  caused  this  degradation  owned 
great  vineyards  and  lived  in  palaces.  They  re- 
velled in  gay  parties  and  at  magnificent  ban- 
quets. 128They  indulged  themselves  in  the 
choicest  drinks,  the  costliest  viands,  and  in 
the  grandest  amusements.  In  winter  they  had 
their  beautiful  winter  palaces;  in  summer 
their  days  were  passed  in  their  luxurious 
summer  homes.  In  beauteous  extravagance 
and  in  gorgeous  style  were  these  furnished 
while  the  female  occupants  strutted  about; 
they  were  like  the  fat,  sleek  cows  of  ancient 
Bashan;  haughty,  proud  and  bedecked  with 
ornaments,  they  demanded  more  and  greater 
splendor, — urging  on  their  husbands  to  re- 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS          171 

newed  misdealings,  oppressive  if  necessary — 
to  keep  them  supplied  with  the  daintiest  fads 
and  costliest  fancies  copied  from  the  nations 
round  about.  129But  for  the  poor,  for  the  wid- 
ow, for  the  fatherless,  and  the  needy,  there 
was  little  concern,  and  for  the  plaintive  ap- 
peals of  the  weak  and  the  oppressed  they  had 
neither  ear  nor  heart. 

With  righteous  indignation,  stern  rebuke, 
and  towering  rage  did  the  prophets  set  out 
to  change  this  social  obliquity.  They  saw 
just  wherein  their  people  had  missed  the 
mark  of  religion  and  righteousness ;  they  saw 
wherein  the  injustice  lay  and  how  it  could 
be  remedied.  But  they  had  no  definite  social 
program.  All  that  they  could  do  and  endeav- 
ored to  do,  was  to  reiterate  and  emphasize 
the  teachings  of  their  faith  and  recall  wan- 
dering Israel  to  the  true  worship  of  God,  in 
the  manner  set  forth  by  them.  With  unex- 
celled might  and  superhuman  foresight  they 
sounded  Israel's  salvation  and  the  salvation 
of  mankind:  Righteousness  and  social  justice 
— based  on  man's  faith  in  God  and  service  to 
man.  How  truly  remarkable  was  the  fore- 
vision  of  these  prophets  who  taught  us  how 
to  worship  God  in  truth,  and  how  to  realize 
this  worship  in  human  service! 

Upon  this  thought,  Micah  based  his  great 
dictum:  130"It  hath  been  told  thee  0  man 
what  is  good  and  what  the  Lord  doth  require 
of  thee,  but  to  do  justly,  to  love  kindness,  and 


172          JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

to  walk  humbly  with  your  God."  To  the 
prophetic  mind,  the  application  of  justice 
and  kindness  to  every  day  life  was  the  only 
remedy  for  social  evils.  According  to  their 
belief,  regeneration  could  come  about  only 
through  faith  in  God,  and  through  godliness 
to  men.  The  worship  of  Yahveh  had  no  mean- 
ing, if  it  did  not  realize  itself  in  ethical  deed. 
The  burden  of  their  message  was  the  doing 
of  the  right  on  the  ground  of  faith  in  a  right- 
eous and  holy  God.  Nor  was  this  righteous- 
ness, or  as  the  Hebrew  has  it  generally  "jus- 
tice," to  be  exercised  at  odd  times  or  in  the 
sanctuary  alone.  It  was  to  be  perennial,  mo- 
tivizing  all  the  thoughts  and  activities  of  life, 
and  pervading  their  every  social  endeavor,  as 
the  air  pervades  everything  above  the  sur- 
face of  the  earth.  It  was  no  small  thing;  it 
was  the  very  life-principle  of  human  exist- 
ence. The  whole  social  and  economic  fabric 
was  put  on  an  ethical  basis,  and  the  solution 
of  the  problems  which  arose  in  social  inter- 
course was  to  be  directed  from  the  ethical 
view  point.  Organized  religious  institutions 
were  to  be  subservient  to  this  idea.  Religion 
was  made  eminently  ethical,  and  this  point 
was  most  strongly  stressed.  Men  could  offer 
sacrifices  and  offerings,  and  indulge  them- 
selves in  sacred  music,  but  at  bottom  there 
must  be  the  proper  ethical  spirit.  131"I  hate 
and  despise  your  feasts,  and  I  will  not  smell 
your  offerings  (saith  the  Lord),  but  let  jus- 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS  173 

tice  run  like  water,  and  righteousness  like  a 
mighty  stream."  132Wash  from  wrong-doing 
'thy  heart,  0  Jerusalem,  how  long  wilt  thou 
let  lodge  within  thee  the  thoughts  of  wicked- 
ness? 133Hear,  0  Earth,  I  will  bring  evil 
upon  this  people,  the  fruit  of  their  thoughts ; 
because  unto  my  words  they  have  not  been 
attentive,  and  as  regards  my  law,  they  have 
despised  it."  To  what  purpose  serveth  me 
the  frankincense  which  cometh  from  Sheba, 
and  the  sweet  cane  from  a  far  off  country? 
Your  burnt  offerings  are  not  acceptable,  and 
your  sacrifices  are  not  agreeable  to  me." 
Thus  hath  said  the  Lord  the  God  of  Israel: 
134"Amend  your  ways,  and  your  deeds,  and  I 
will  permit  you  to  dwell  in  this  place.  Do 
not  rely  on  the  words  of  falsehood  saying, 
'the  Temple  of  the  Lord,  the  Temple  of  the 
Lord/  as  they  say.  But  if  ye  truly  amend 
your  ways  and  your  deeds,  if  ye  thoroughly 
execute  justice  between  a  man  and  his  neigh- 
bor; if  ye  oppress  not  the  stranger,  the  fath- 
erless, the  widow,  and  do  not  shed  innocent 
blood  in  this  place,  and  walk  not  after  other 
gods  to  your  own  hurt,  then  will  I  permit 
you  to  dwell  in  this  place,  in  the  land"  *  *  * 
135"What  are  your  burnt  offerings  *  *  *  and 
the  fatted  beasts  and  the  blood  of  bullocks 
and  sheep  and  he-goats;  *  *  *  continue  no 
more  to  bring  an  oblation  of  deceit;  incense 
of  abomination  is  it  unto  me  *  *  I  cannot  bear 
misdeed  with  festive  gatherings  *  *  *  your 


174          JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

appointed  feasts  my  soul  hateth;  they  are  a 
burden  unto  me  *  *  *  Wash  yourselves,  make 
yourselves  clean,  put  away  the  evil  of  your 
deeds  from  before  my  eyes ;  cease  to  do  evil ; 
learn  to  do  well;  seek  justice,  relieve  the  op- 
pressed, do  justice  to  the  fatherless  and  plead 
for  the  widow."  These  words  cannot  be  mis- 
understood. The  worship  of  God  was  to  be 
realized  in  service  to  fellowman.  He  who 
served  his  God  truthfully  could  not  wilfully 
oppress  man ;  he  could  not  wilfully  disregard 
the  demands  of  justice;  he  surely  could  not 
wilfully  turn  a  deaf  ear  to  the  pleadings  of 
the  weak,  the  distressed  and  the  dependent. 
The  truly  religious  man  who  reveres  God  and 
loves  his  fellowman,  136  glories  not  in  his  wis- 
dom, nor  in  his  might,  nor  yet  in  his  riches ; 
but  he  glories  in  that  he  knows  God,  and 
understands  that  He  is  the  "Lord  who  ex- 
ercises mercy,  justice  and  righteousness,  in 
the  earth."  "For  in  these  things"  like  God, 
does  he  "take  a  delight." 

With  such  teachings  and  ideals  did  the 
prophets  attempt  to  eradicate  the  unright- 
eousness of  their  times.  They  believed  that 
social  justice  and  social  love,  were  funda- 
mental to  life;  and  that  the  proper  applica- 
tion and  observance  of  these  social  laws, 
would  in  the  end,  bring  about  harmony  in 
society.  Stern  justice,  alone,  could  not  suf- 
fice as  the  guiding  principle.  Therefore  they 
pleaded  for  mercy  and  loving-kindness. 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS          175 

They  had  visions  of  the  day  when  mankind 
would  live  in  accordance  with  these  eternal 
verities,  and  they  hoped  with  an  eternal — 
if  sometimes  a  wavering  hope — that  the  gov- 
ernment of  Israel  would  become  the  model 
and  exemplar  of  such  social  justice.  They  be- 
lieved as  we  do  today,  that  the  oppression 
of  the  weak,  the  bribing  of  the  corrupt,  and 
the  depravity  and  the  immorality  of  the  un- 
just, could  not  thrive  where  there  is  a  definite 
and  a  rigid  sense  of  duty  on  the  part  of  the 
stronger  toward  the  weaker ;  nor  could  it  ex- 
ist when  man  would  once  realize  what  he  owes 
to  his  neighbor.  And  this  belief  was  born 
not  merely  out  of  a  vague  sense  of  justice  and 
not  out  of  a  shallow  or  sentimental  love  for 
mankind,  but  out  of  the  deep  realization  of 
the  fundamental  fact  that  the  group  can  sur- 
vive only  through  the  dominance  of  the  high- 
er social  interests,  and  through  the  cultiva- 
tion of  those  ideals  which  teach,  inspire  and 
spread  the  practices  of  the  high,  ethical  and 
Godly  conduct  for  which  these  peerless  teach- 
ers stood. 

Against  that  kind  of  a  civilization  in  which 
the  few  prospered  at  the  expense  of  many; 
or  in  which  the  many  suffered  to  support  the 
few,  Judaism  has  always  protested.  But  at 
no  time  has  the  protest  been  keener,  nor  has 
the  cry  raised  against  it  been  more  pene- 
trating, than  during  the  days  of  that  period 
in  which  Israel  had  a  land  of  its  own,  where 


176          JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

it  could  feel  the  deadening  grasp  of  unsocial 
and  unjust  practices.  Time  and  again  those 
mighty  teachers  lifted  up  their  matchless 
voices  in  behalf  of  those  to  whom  fortune 
was  unfavorable,  and  against  those  whose  po- 
sition prompted  them  to  take  advantage  of 
this  condition.  137And  the  strength  of  the  pro- 
phetic message  lay  not  only  in  its  challenge 
to  the  individual,  but  also  in  its  call  to  the 
commonwealth.  Whether  it  be  Judah  or 
Israel  or  a  citizen  of  either  land  to  whom 
the  castigation  applied,  the  burdens  of  the 
prophet's  messages  are  unmistakable.  138No 
land  and  no  citizen  of  any  land  can  have  any 
right,  human  or  divine,  to  arrogate  to  itself 
or  to  himself  the  privilege  of  oppressing  or 
mistreating  those  who  may  come  within  its 
or  his  power.  On  the  contrary,  by  divine  ex- 
ample, and  by  virtue  of  the  duty  of  each  one 
to  follow  the  divine  example,  139it  is  the  boun- 
den  duty  to  do  justly,  to  act  righteously,  and 
to  conduct  one's  self  blamelessly  towards  his 
neighbor.  A  nation  of  wrong-doers  cannot 
form  a  righteous  commonwealth;  therefore 
must  that  people  which  would  perform  a 
righteous  mission  in  the  economy  of  the  uni- 
verse, become  individually  righteous;  this 
was  the  task  of  every  Israelite,  in  order  that 
the  kingdom  of  Israel  may  become  the  exem- 
plar of  that  social  justice  which  was  first 
born  in  the  teachings  of  their  greatest  and 
grandest  leader,  Moses.  If  the  nation  is  tp 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS          177 

be  saved,  the  individuals  must  be  reformed. 
Only  in  the  light  of  such  a  point  of  view  can 
many  of  the  prophets'  words  be  understood. 
140"Sow  righteousness  for  yourselves  so  that 
you  may  reap  the  fruits  of  loving-kindness; 
cultivate  the  fallow  ground  and  at  the  proper 
time  seek  God  that  He  come,  and  that  right- 
eousness be  taught  among  you."  The  pas- 
sages in  the  first  chapter  of  Isaiah  quoted 
above,  appeal  too,  to  individual  righteous- 
ness, in  the  hope  that  the  realization  of  this 
will  make  a  righteous  nation.  141"Through 
justice  shall  Zion  be  redeemed,  and  her  in- 
habitants through  righteousness."  When 
Jeremiah  decries  the  ways  of  the  king,  he 
warns  him  that  unless  he  rules  in  righteous- 
ness, he  will  drag  down  with  him  not  only 
his  own  house  but  the  whole  nation  as  well. 
It  is  not  a  matter  of  one's  own  desire  or 
whim.  It  is  the  duty  of  the  people,  and  the 
duty  as  well  of  him  who  rules  the  people.  142 
"Thus  saith  the  Lord,"  says  Jeremiah,  "go 
down  to  the  house  of  the  King  of  Judah,  and 
speak  there  this  word.  And  thou  shalt  say, 
'hear  the  word  of  the  Lord,  0  King  of  Judah, 
that  sitteth  upon  the  throne  of  David  and 
thy  servants  and  thy  people  that  enter  in 
by  these  gates.  Thus  hath  said  the  Lord: 
Execute  justice  and  righteousness,  and  de- 
liver him  that  is  robbed  out  of  the  hand  of 
the  oppressor;  and  the  stranger,  the  father- 
less and  the  widow  shall  ye  not  oppress ;  and 


178          JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

do  them  no  violence  and  shed  no  innocent 
blood.  For  if  indeed  you  will  do  this,  then 
shall  ye  enter  in  through  the  gates  of  this 
house,  kings  sitting  upon  the  throne  of 
David.  *  *  *  But  if  ye  will  not  hear  these 
words,  I  swear  by  myself,  saith  the  Lord, 
that  this  house  shall  become  a  ruin  *  *  *  and 
I  will  surely  change  thee  unto  a  wilderness, 
cities  which  are  not  inhabited/  " 

143It  was  the  salvation  of  Israel  as  a  people 
that  stirred  the  hearts  of  the  prophets.  Upon 
it  they  lavished  their  deepest  concern  and 
undying  love,  and  for  it  they  poured  out  their 
most  fervent  prayers.  It  they  idealized,  and 
for  it  were  their  most  exalted  truths  to  be 
lived  and  fulfilled.  Israel  was  to  be  the  kingly 
priesthood  among  whom  social  justice  was 
to  be  enthroned  and  righteousness  exalted; 
with  tender  mercy  and  loving  kindness  were 
its  sons  and  daughters,  the  remnant  of  God's 
chosen,  to  conduct  themselves.  They  were 
neither  to  144deceive  nor  to  speak  lies ;  but  in 
the  land  which  was  to  be  God's  own  footstool, 
they  were  to  take  proper  counsel  so  that  the 
night  might  shine  forth  as  the  day.  145Their 
God  was  to  be  the  God  of  Righteousness,  and 
His  people's  land  the  Kingdom  of  Righteous- 
ness ;  and  the  work  of  this  righteousness  was 
to  be  peace,  and  its  effect  was  to  be  quiet- 
ness and  assurance  forever,  for  the  nation 
and  for  its  citizenship. 

Like  the  dying  echoes  of  a  distant  strain 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS          179 

which  has  been  taken  up  by  a  symphony  be- 
fore us  and  made  real  and  present  again,  seem 
the  impressive  plaints  of  the  ancient  seers, 
made  now  the  reasons  for  our  entry  into  the 
greatest  war  since  history  began.  With  an 
alarming  force  does  their  reality  impress  us 
now.  We  too  would  have  the  cry  for  social 
justice  answered  not  only  for  ourselves,  but 
for  all  men  and  all  nations.  Our  desire  is  it 
too,  that  this,  our  land,  be  one  of  individual 
righteousness  and  national  purity.  Our 
workers,  too,  would  have  justice  done  to 
them,  to  their  offspring,  to  their  strangers 
and  to  their  dependents.  Not  the  justice  of 
one  or  that  of  the  few;  but  the  justice  of 
nations  do  we  seek.  We  too,  desire  to  be  a 
Democracy  of  Righteousness;  and  here  too, 
would  each  be  a  doer  of  justice  and  loving- 
kindness.  We  too,  are  answering  the  pro- 
phetic call,  146"to  amend  our  ways  and  our 
deeds,  and  execute  justice  between  a  man  and 
his  neighbor,"  and  our  answer  now  is  not  only 
for  ourselves  and  our  country,  but  for  civ- 
ilized humanity  as  well. 

Individual  Righteousness 

Side  by  side  with  the  growth  and  develop- 
ment of  the  idea  of  social  justice  there  devel- 
oped that  of  individual  righteousness.  It 
seems  only  natural  that  both  should  grow  up 
as  they  did,  yet  at  one  time  one  idea  seemed 
to  be  emphasized  and  at  another  time,  the 
other.  Let  it  not  seem  strange  to  us  that 


180          JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

these  ideas  are  differentiated.  Apparently  in- 
dividual righteousness  ought  to  inculcate 
community  rectitude;  and  community  right- 
eousness ought  to  include  individual  recti- 
tude; but  it  has  not  always  been  so.  The 
time  has  not  even  yet  passed  when  men  can 
violate  truths,  obligations  and  duties  of  an 
altruistic  or  public  nature,  and  after  discharg- 
ing their  individual  church  obligations,  feel 
that  they  are  at  one  with  the  Creator. 

Nor  have  the  days  long  since  passed  when 
men  could  be  hypocrites,  scoundrels,  adult- 
erers, and  even  murderers,  and  yet  be  as- 
sured of  salvation  through  certain  theological 
processes.  With  many  it  is  only  the  outward 
requirements  that  are  heeded;  as  long  as 
the  rules  of  the  church  or  sect  are  obeyed,  or 
apparently  obeyed,  so  long  the  path  to  ever- 
lasting life  is  clear.  Things  are  fortunately 
changing  now.  Our  conception  of  religion 
is  higher,  and  righteousness  is  no  longer  only 
a  theological  term.  Its  meaning  extends  out- 
side of  the  church  walls,  and  no  matter  how 
earnest  one's  profession  is  or  how  loyal  one's 
church  affiliations  are,  one's  actions  outside 
of  the  church  must  measure  up  to  a  high 
standard,  before  one  will  be  regarded  as 
righteous.  Hypocrisy  is  no  longer  condoned 
within  the  church  walls,  and  social  turpi- 
tude can  no  longer  be  wiped  out  by  a  mere 
confession  of  one's  sins.  An  unchurched  doer 
of  good  is  accounted  righteous,  and  even  he 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS          181 

who  shuts  himself  off  completely  from  every 
benefit  that  a  churchman  hopes  for,  may  be 
righteous  and  religious  if  he  fulfills  in  sin- 
cerity the  ethical  and  moral  requirements  of 
everyday  life.  We  have  transferred  the 
meaning  of  "righteous"  and  the  requirements 
of  "righteousness"  from  the  walled  church  to 
the  unwalled  world,  and  with  this  transfer 
has  come  that  consequent  broadening  which 
includes  all  of  life  instead  of  just  that  part 
limited  by  the  confines  of  a  particular  creed 
or  sect.  Righteousness  pertains  to  every  en- 
deavor of  life ;  and  they  are  righteous  who  by 
their  actions  fulfill  the  highest  demands  of 
social,  moral  and  religious  conduct.  If  this 
definition  be  accepted,  we  have  but  returned 
to  the  old  Jewish  understanding  of  the  term. 
It  was  not  until  after  the  destruction  of 
the  first  commonwealth  that  the  idea  of  indi- 
vidual righteousness  became  dominant  in  Is- 
rael. Community  justice  no  longer  received 
the  attention  it  had  when  Israel  was  in  a 
land  of  its  own.  In  exile  the  bond  of  solidar- 
ity was  based  upon  the  national  traditions 
and  the  common  spiritual  possessions,  and 
the  heritage  became  dearer  and  holier  as 
time  passed.  Here  the  individual  religious 
consciousness  became  stronger,  just  because 
there  was  no  national  political  life,  and  the 
truths  enunciated  by  the  prophets  were  ap- 
plied by  men  to  themselves  just  as  the  proph- 
ets desired  that  they  be  applied  to  the  life 


182         JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

in  Palestine.  If  the  expatriation  of  Israel  was 
caused  by  its  sins,  then  its  rehabilitation  was 
to  be  brought  about  by  its  righteousness ;  if  in 
aforetime  it  had  turned  away  from  the  judg- 
ments and  the  precepts  of  its  God,  then  did 
it  latterly  believe  in  the  words  of  old:  ^"Af- 
ter the  Lord  God  shall  ye  walk,  and  Him  ye 
shall  fear;  His  commandments  shall  ye  ob- 
serve, unto  His  voice  shall  ye  hearken;  Him 
shall  ye  serve,  and  unto  Him  shall  ye  cleave. 
For  the  Lord  would  repent,  since  He  is  148 
merciful  and  gracious,  long-suffering,  and 
abundant  in  goodness  and  truth;  keeping 
mercy  for  thousands  and  forgiving  iniquity, 
transgression  and  sin." 

To  develop  the  kind  of  Jewry  which  it 
would  please  the  Lord  to  take  back  to  the 
Promised  Land,  became  the  dynamic  ideal 
of  Ezekiel  and  his  contemporary  leaders,  for 
there  was  an  undying  hope  of  a  return.  The 
prophets  had  been  concerned  about  the  na- 
tion as  a  whole;  they  had  believed  that  it 
would  be  eternal,  and  that  as  long  as  God  had 
witnesses  on  earth,  so  long  would  Israel  en- 
dure. But  the  events  of  the  fall  and  the  de- 
struction of  Jerusalem,  produced  a  change; 
and  the  stronger  emphasis  shifted  from  the 
people  as  a  whole,  to  the  individual.  Per- 
sonal righteousness  became  the  key  that 
would  unlock  the  gates  of  national  salvation ; 
and  individual  rectitude  towards  God  and 
man,  based  on  the  carrying  out  of  His  com- 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS          183 

mandments,  became  the  most  sacred  relig- 
ious duty.  Jeremiah  had  sowed  the  seed 
when  some  years  before  he  taught  that  149 
"in  those  days  they  shall  say  no  more  the 
fathers  have  eaten  the  sour  grapes,  and  the 
children's  teeth  are  set  on  edge."  Every  man 
was  to  be  held  responsible  for  his  own  short- 
comings, and  he  who  ate  the  sour  grapes  was 
himself  to  suffer  the  consequences.  150The 
fathers  were  no  longer  to  be  put  to  death  on 
account  of  the  sins  of  the  children,  nor  yet 
the  sons,  for  the  sins  of  the  fathers ;  but  each 
must  die  for  his  own  sin.  Yet  not  to  die,  but 
to  live  was  the  desire  of  the  Jew ;  and  to  live 
so  that  the  restoration  might  come  about 
was  his  self-imposed  religious  obligation.  To 
be  a  righteous  man  and  to  realize  that  which 
the  Lord  desired  and  commanded — that  was 
the  task  before  the  Jew  of  that  day,  even  as 
it  is  the  duty  of  the  Jew  today ;  though  to  ac- 
complish this  now,  we  do  not  have  to  return 
to  the  ancient  "homeland.  To  that  obligation 
Ezekiel  particularly  gave  direction.  This 
greatest  priest-prophet  of  the  exile,  who  tow- 
ered so  high  above  most  of  his  contemporar- 
ies, seemed  able  like  his  colleagues  of  the  pro- 
phetic school,  to  pierce  the  veil  which  sepa- 
rated the  human  from  the  Divine;  and  he 
knew,  too,  what  kind  of  life  fulfilled  the 
religious  hopes,  yearnings  and  aspirations  of 
those,  who  like  him,  had  been  torn  from  the 
land  of  their  birth,  their  early  scenes,  and 


184          JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

their  hopes.  He  had  abiding  faith  in  his 
God  and  in  his  people,  and  he  felt  that  these 
had  been  reserved  for  a  fate  better  than  that 
of  slaves,  farmers  and  traders  for  ancient 
Babylonia.  It  was  because  he  felt  all  of  this 
that  he  desired  individual  righteousness,  and 
counseled  with  his  people :  151"What  mean  ye 
that  ye  use  this  proverb  concerning  the  land 
of  Israel,  saying  the  fathers  have  eaten  sour 
grapes,  but  the  children's  teeth  stand  on 
edge  ?  'As  I  live/  saith  the  Lord  God,  'ye  shall 
not  have  occasion  any  more  to  use  this  prov- 
erb in  Israel.  Behold  all  souls  are  mine;  as 
the  soul  of  the  father  so  also  the  soul  of  the 
son,  is  mine;  the  soul  that  sinneth  it  shall 
die.  But  if  a  man  be  just,  and  do  that  which 
is  just  and  right,  *  *  *  neither  lifted  up  his 
eyes  to  idols,  *  *  *  neither  defiled  his  neigh- 
bor's wife  *  *  *  nor  oppressed  anyone;  but 
he  hath  restored  to  the  debtor  his  pledge, 
hath  spoiled  none  by  violence,  hath  given 
bread  to  the  hungry  and  hath  clothed  the 
naked,  hath  not  given  forth  upon  usury  nor 
hath  taken  any  increase ;  hath  withdrawn  his 
hand  from  iniquity,  hath  executed  true  judg- 
ment between  man  and  man ;  hath  walked  in 
my  statutes,  and  hath  kept  my  judgments,  to 
deal  truly:  he  is  just,  he  shall  surely  live,' 
saith  the  Lord." 

The  restoration  in  the  sixth  century  did 
not  weaken  the  obligation  of  personal  right- 
eousness. The  post-exilic  prophets,  psalm- 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS          185 

ists,  and  sages,  sing  of  it.  As  time  went  on 
this  ideal  became  more  and  more  important 
and  the  later  psalmists  gave  it  a  meaning 
that  has  never  been  surpassed  in  point  of 
spiritual  depth.  A  difference  might  be  indi- 
cated here  between  the  earlier  and  the  later 
idea  of  righteousness  in  Scripture.  The  right- 
eousness of  the  heart  or  inner  righteousness 
is  strongly  emphasized  in  the  Psalms;  the 
righteousness  of  conduct  is  extolled  in  the 
prophetic  and  wisdom  literature.  The  seek- 
ing for  righteousness  of  the  soul  in  its  in- 
nermost depths  assumes  a  spiritualizing  force 
in  the  Psalms,  unequalled  in  any  other  Jewish 
or  Christian  literature.  About  this  right- 
eousness there  was  no  sham  nor  artificial  for- 
mality. It  was  a  deep  seated  and  genuine  in- 
ner consciousness  of  right,  whose  lofty  aspir- 
ations put  its  possessors  in  unison  with  God. 
Its  oral  expressions  were  prayers  which 
bound  the  souls  of  men  to  the  spirit  of  their 
Maker,  and  its  spiritual  devotions  lifted  the 
worshippers  out  of  this  mundane  sphere  and 
gave  them  a  taste  of  what  seemed  to  be  the 
bliss  of  the  world  to  come.  Its  songs  were  re- 
ligious symphonies  whose  notes  sounded  from 
the  depths  of  the  soul,  and  seemed  to  re-echo 
with  the  music  of  God's  own  spheres.  No 
wonder  the  Jews  were  lifted  upward  by  their 
wonderful  Psalms,  and  that  in  them  they 
found  comfort  in  the  darkest  and  thickest 
hopelessness ;  no  wonder  that  a  world,  though 


186          JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

hostile  to  the  Jew,  has  appropriated  them  as 
one  of  its  most  highly  prized  religious  pos- 
sessions ! 

152"Judge  me  0  Lord,"  cries  the  psalmist 
who  looks  to  his  righteous  God  as  a  child  to 
its  perfect  Father,  "according  to  my  right- 
eousness that  is  within  me."  "Let  the  wick- 
edness of  the  wicked  come  to  an  end  and  es- 
tablish Thou  the  just.  For  the  righteous 
God  trieth  the  hearts  and  the  souls  of  men. 
My  shield  is  God  who  saves  the  upright  of 
heart."  When  in  contemplation  of  the  holi- 
ness which  lifts  to  divine  heights,  the  singer 
thinks  of  man's  duty  to  God  and  man,  he 
cries  out  in  the  ecstacy  of  his  religious  fer- 
vor, 153"who  shall  ascend  the  hill  of  the  Lord 
and  who  shall  stand  in  His  holy  place?  He 
that  hath  clean  hands  and  a  pure  heart ;  who 
hath  not  lifted  up  his  soul  unto  vanity  nor 
sworn  deceitfully.  He  shall  receive  a  bless- 
ing from  the  Lord  and  righteousness  from 
the  God  of  his  salvation."  According  to  this 
standard  only  they  were  to  stand  on  Zion's 
holy  crest  whose  righteousness  united  them 
with  the  Righteous  One. 

The  following  might  be  a  reminder  to  those 
who  insist  that  the  God  of  the  Jews  was  so 
far  from  his  people  that  the  distance  be- 
tween Him  and  them  precluded  that  inti- 
mate relationship  which  those  need,  who 
would  throw  themselves  upon  the  mercy  and 
goodness  of  their  Creator.  154"Unto  Thee, 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS          187 

0  Lord,  do  I  lift  my  soul.  0  my  God  I  trust  in 
Thee.  Let  me  not  be  deceived.  Let  not  mine 
enemies  triumph  over  me,  yea,  let  none  that 
wait  on  Thee  be  ashamed.  Let  them  be 
ashamed  who  trangress  without  cause.  Show 
me  Thy  ways  0  God,  teach  me  Thy  paths, 
lead  me  in  Thy  truth,  and  teach  me,  for 
Thou  art  the  God  of  my  salvation.  On  Thee 
do  I  wait  all  day.  Remember  Thy  tender 
mercies  0  God,  and  Thy  loving  kindness. 
Good  and  upright  is  the  Lord,  therefore  will 
He  teach  sinners  in  the  way.  0  keep  my  soul 
and  deliver  me  *  *  *  Let  integrity  and  up- 
rightness preserve'  me,  for  I  wait  on  Thee." 
Sometimes  the  psalmist  gets  into  a  didac- 
tic mood ;  sometimes  he  speaks  with  a  proph- 
etic voice.  He  would  have  mankind  know 
what  righteousness  and  godliness  are,  and  he 
would  have  his  f ellowmen  understand  how  to 
be  at  one  with  the  Shield  and  the  Savior.  He 
lays  down  the  rule  that  God  rewards  those 
who  follow  in  His  paths  and  who  live  accord- 
ing to  His  commandments.  155"Come  ye  chil- 
dren and  hearken  unto  me,  I  will  teach  you 
the  fear  of  the  Lord.  What  man  is  he  who 
desireth  life  and  loveth  many  days  in  which 
to  see  good  ?  Keep  thy  tongue  from  evil  and 
thy  lips  from  uttering  guile.  Depart  from 
evil  and  do  good,  seek  peace  and  pursue  it. 
The  eyes  of  the  Lord  are  upon  the  righteous 
and  His  ears  are  open  to  their  cry.  The  face 
of  the  Lord  is  against  them  that  do  evil,  to 


188          JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

cut  off  their  remembrance  from  the  earth." 
Here  is  the  meditation  and  praise  of  an  early 
psalm,  showing  what  a  deep  faith  in  God  this 
writer  had !  156"The  Lord  hath  rewarded  me 
according  to  my  righteousness,  according  to 
the  cleanness  of  my  hands  hath  he  recom- 
pensed me.  For  I  have  kept  the  ways  of 
the  Lord,  and  have  not  wickedly  departed 
from  my  God.  All  His  judgments  were  be- 
fore me,  and  I  did  not  put  away  His  stat- 
utes from  before  me.  I  was  upright  be- 
fore Him,  and  kept  myself  from  iniquity. 
Therefore  hath  the  Lord  recompensed  me  ac- 
cording to  my  righteousness,  according  to 
the  cleanness  of  my  hands  in  His  sight.  With 
the  merciful,  thou  wilt  show  thyself  merci- 
ful, with  the  upright  thou  wilt  show  thyself 
upright,  with  'the  pure  wilt  thou  show  thy- 
self pure,  with  the  froward  thou  wilt  show 
thyself  froward,  for  thou  wilt  save  the  af- 
flicted people,  but  thou  wilt  bring  down  the 
proud  looks.  For  thou  wilt  light  my  candle, 
the  Lord  will  light  up  darkness  *  *  *  *  The 
way  of  God  is  perfect,  His  word  is  tried,  He 
is  a  buckler  to  those  that  trust  in  Him." 

The  foregoing  passages  are  cited  to  show 
with  what  feeling  righteousness  was  regard- 
ed by  the  Old  Testament  teachers.  Many 
other  passages  could  be  shown — the  Old 
Book  teems  with  them.  The  Psalms,  Prov- 
erbs, Job  and  the  Prophets  are  especially 
rich.  But  was  this  not  to  be  expected?  If 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS          189 

the  ideal  of  the  priestly  kingdom  meant  any- 
thing to  the  Jew  of  old,  it  meant  that  the  in- 
dividual Jew  should  feel  his  own  righteous- 
ness as  deeply  as  the  prophets  desired  that 
the  whole  people  should  feel  its  uprightness. 
Was  the  God  of  Israel  not  a  God  of  Holiness? 
How  could  His  people  be  otherwise?  And 
if  here  and  there  the  nation  showed  a  ten- 
dency to  backsliding,  was  there  not  always 
a  remnant  that  would  still  raise  its  voice  in 
God's  behalf,  and  recall  to  wandering  Israel 
the  love  of  his  early  youth?  With  an  ever 
deepening  consciousness  of  the  beauty  of 
righteousness,  this  recall  was  sounded  as 
years  went  by,  and  the  call  is  not  yet  over, 
for  Israel's  righteousness  is  not  yet  com- 
pleted, though  the  call  has  been  sounded  for 
more  than  forty  centuries.  Yet  shall  he  live 
on  and  strive  on,  in  the  knowledge  that  the 
157"law  of  his  God  is  perfect,  refreshing  the 
soul ;  the  testimony  of  his  Lord  is  sure,  mak- 
ing wise  the  simple;  the  statutes  of  his  God 
are  right,  rejoicing  the  heart;  the  command- 
ment of  his  Lord  is  pure,  making  wise  the 
simple;  the  fear  of  his  Lord  is  true,  endur- 
ing forever;  the  judgments  of  his  Lord  are 
true,  and  righteous  altogether."  And  thus 
firm  in  his  faith,  and  loyal  to  his  ideals,  the 
true  Jew  will  strive  and  continue  to  be  a  bless- 
ing to  the  families  of  the  earth. 

The  Christian  apologete  will  grant  the  sub- 
limity of  Old  Testament  ethics.   He  will  agree 


190          JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

that  spiritual  depths  have  been  sounded  and 
godly  heights  have  been  scaled,  but  he  will 
do  this  with  the  reservation  that  however 
great  some  of  the  writings  of  the  Old  Book 
are,  the  writings  of  the  New  One  are  greater. 
This  is  with  him  a  foregone  conclusion,  and 
needs  no  proof.  He  maintains  that  the  idea 
of  love  in  the  Old  Testament  is  not  as  spir- 
itual as  that  of  the  New;  the  spirituality  of 
the  Old,  is  less  refining  than  that  of  the  New ; 
the  justice  of  the  Old  Testament  teachers  is 
too  stern  and  its  brotherhood  too  narrow. 
There  has  to  be  "superiority" — it  ttnight  as 
well  be  in  these  regards.  No  matter  how 
effective  the  ethical  elements  of  the  Jewish 
Bible  were  in  Biblical  days,  they  did  not  ac- 
complish much  at  the  time  of  the  rise  of 
Christianity.  The  Jews  had  failed  to  make 
proper  use  of  them,  and  the  few  good  things 
in  the  Old  Testament  fell  into  disuse.  There 
were  some  who  still  clung  to  the  ancient 
heritage,  but  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees  had 
become  such  hypocrites  and  narrow  legalists 
that  all  the  ethical  content  of  Judaism  was 
lost.  All  they  cared  for  was  the  execution 
of  minute  sacrificial  laws  and  ritual  regula- 
tions; all  they  wanted  was  to  show  them- 
selves conforming  in  public.  They  cared  only 
to  parade  their  piety  before  God  and  man  by 
practicing  what  the  law  demanded.  True 
righteousness,  they  had  not;  true  love  was 
wanting;  the  fountains  of  mercy  had  dried 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS          191 

up  in  those  generations ;  the  soul  that  craved 
to  do  charity  was  not  in  a  Jewish  body ;  jus- 
tice and  love  did  not  exist,  and  every  Jew 
was  as  blind  to  them  as  Justice  is  pictured  to 
be  blind  to  contending  parties.  It  was  for 
this  reason  that  the  new  dispensation  was 
needed.  Justice,  love,  mercy,  brotherliness, 
charity,  and  peace — all  these  had  vanished, 
and  sprang  up  anew  only  when  the  young 
teacher  from  Galilee  put  a  new  life  into  them. 
Clothed  in  new  precepts,  commandments, 
parables,  teachings  and  sermons,  these  were 
then  incorporated  into  a  holy  collection  after 
his  death.  And  this  collection  is  the  source 
of  all  modern  social  ideals  and  social  inspira- 
tion. All  that  is  valuable  in  the  life  of  man- 
kind comes  from  it — our  highest  hopes,  our 
soul's  deepest  cravings,  mankind's  loftiest 
ideals,  society's  noblest  strivings, — the  very 
principles  for  which  democracy  is  now  fight- 
ing. 

The  above  is  not  quoted  from  any  single 
Christian  work,  but  such  thoughts  may  be 
gathered  from  any  standard  work  on  Chris- 
tianity or  the  Teachings  of  Jesus.  Many 
statements  will  be  found  stronger,  and  very 
few  less  strong.  The  real  character  of  Jews 
and  Judaism  is  passed  over  unnoticed,  and 
the  picture  of  Jewish  life  is  drawn  altogether 
from  the  polemic  and  partisan  New  Testa- 
ment. Yet  when  one  realizes  how  late  some 
of  the  very  finest  of  the  psalms  are,  and  how 


192          JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

rich  in  ethical  material  much  of  the  apocry- 
phal and  pseudepigraphic  literature  is,  one 
fails  to  understand  the  Christian  writers. 
This  is  simply  a  question  of  misinforma- 
tion. Throughout  the  literature  of  the  second 
and  first  centuries  before  Jesus  and  the  early 
centuries  after  him,  we  find  remarkable  ex- 
amples of  most  inspiring  teachings ;  just  how 
so  many  could  have  been  written  and  how 
they  could  have  been  cherished  if  Jewishness 
had  sunk  to  the  depths  so  often  pictured,  they 
do  not  say!  Is  it  too  much  to  hope  that  a 
day  of  a  more  just  evaluation  of  Jewish  life, 
on  the  part  of  Biblical  expositors,  will  dawn  ? 
Something  has  already  been  said  of  the 
influence  of  this  early  literature  upon  the 
New  Testament.  We  need  here  quote  only  a 
few  passages  that  deal  directly  with  right- 
eousness to  show  that  this  ethical  quality 
was  not  only  not  dead,  but  that  it  was  a  very 
common  teaching  in  the  New  Testament  pe- 
riod. In  the  whole  range  of  these  works  there 
is  nothing  that  exceeds  the  advice  of  Tobit 
to  his  son:  158"Be  mindful  of  the  Lord  thy 
God  *  *  *  and  do  uprightly  all  thy  life  long, 
and  go  not  in  the  ways  of  unrighteousness. 
159For  if  thou  practice  the  truth  thou  shalt 
be  prosperous  in  all  thy  works.  Do  good, 
and  evil  shall  not  touch  you;  prayer  is  good 
with  fasting,  and  alms  and  righteousness; 
little  with  righteousness  is  better  than  much 
with  unrighteousness,  and  those  that  practice 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS          193 

almsgiving  and  righteousness  shall  be  filled 
with  life." 

The  Book  of  Enoch,  the  Testaments  of  the 
Twelve  Patriarchs,  the  Assumption  of  Moses 
— all  late  works — testify  strongly  to  the  fact 
that  righteousness  was  a  goal  much  sought 
by  the  Jews,  and  that  the  ideal  started  in  the 
early  days  of  the  Mosaic  inspiration  was  ever 
present  as  days  and  years  rolled  on.  It  is 
true  that  not  every  individual  Jew  was  right- 
eous; but  it  is  equally  true,  that  at  no  time 
in  Jewish  history  was  this  idea  absent  from 
the  religious  consciousness  of  the  Jew.  In 
the  vision  of  Enoch,  God  says  to  Michael :  16° 
"Go  *  *  *  and  cleanse  thou  the  earth  from  all 
oppression  and  from  all  unrighteousness  and 
from  all  godlessness."  In  the  admonition  to 
his  sons,  Enoch  outlines  a  most  righteous 
course  of  conduct:  161"And  now  I  say  unto 
you,  my  sons,  love  righteousness  and  walk 
therein,  for  the  paths  of  righteousness  are 
worthy  of  acceptation,  but  the  paths  of  un- 
righteousness shall  suddenly  be  destroyed 
and  vanish  *  *  *  But  seek  and  choose  for 
yourself  righteousness  and  an  elect  life,  and 
walk  in  the  path  of  peace  and  ye  shall  live  and 
prosper."  And  among  the  final  sentences, 
we  find,  162"be  not  godless  in  your  hearts,  and 
lie  not,  and  alter  not  the  words  of  upright- 
ness, nor  change  with  lying  the  words  of  the 
Holy  Great  One,  nor  take  account  of  your 
idols ;  for  all  your  lying  and  all  your  godless- 


194          JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

ness  issue  not  in  righteousness,  but  in  great 
sin."  The  following  strong  condemnation 
sounds  as  though  it  were  Biblical:  163"Woe 
to  you  who  work  unrighteousness  and  deceit 
and  blasphemy ;  it  shall  be  a  memorial  against 
you  for  evil.  Woe  to  you,  ye  mighty,  who 
with  might  oppress  the  righteous,  for  the  day 
of  your  destruction  is  coming." 

The  Book  of  the  Wisdom  of  Solomon  opens 
with  the  injunction:  "Love  righteousness, 
ye  that  be  the  judges  of  the  earth  *  *  •  *  for 
the  holy  spirit  of  wisdom  will  flee  deceit,  and 
will  remove  itself  from  thoughts  that  are 
without  understanding,  and  will  be  frighten- 
ed away  when  unrighteousness  approaches." 
Let  us  not  forget  that  this  book  was  written 
before  the  birth  of  Jesus.  About  two  centur- 
ies before  that  another  sage  wrote:  164"Do 
no  evil,  and  evil  will  not  befall  thee;  depart 
from  what  is  unjust,  and  it  will  turn  away 
from  thee."  We  have  already  had  occasion 
to  speak  of  the  remarkable  work  known  as 
Ecclesiasticus  or  Sirach,  which  grew  so  pop- 
ular that  it  was  confounded  with  the  Biblical 
books."  165"Bear  not  hatred  to  thy  neighbor 
over  any  wrong,"  it  says,  "and  do  not  any- 
thing at  all  by  violent  practices.  Blessed  is 
the  man  that  hath  not  offended  in  his  speech, 
and  is  not  pricked  with  grief  for  sins.  166Lend 
to  thy  neighbor  in  time  of  need,  and  pay  thou 
thy  neighbor  again  in  due  season;  keep  thy 
word  and  deal  in  good  faith  with  him,  and 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS          195 

t 

thou  shalt  always  find  the  thing  that  is  nec- 
essary for  thee.  167To  depart  from  wicked- 
ness is  pleasing  to  the  Lord;  and  to  depart 
from  unrighteousness  is  a  propitiation." 

Individual  righteousness  in  the  Book  of  Ju- 
bilees is  illustrated  by  these  three  quotations. 
The  first  is  an  extract  from  the  prayer  of 
Moses  to  God,  as  follows:  168"Let  thy  mercy 
0  God,  be  lifted  upon  Thy  people,  and  create 
in  them  an  upright  spirit,  and  let  not  the 
spirit  of  Beliar  rule  over  them  before  Thee, 
and  to  ensnare  them  from  all  paths  of  right- 
eousness, so  that  they  may  perish  from  be- 
fore Thy  face."  The  answer  of  God  is  in 
thorough  keeping  with  the  religious  hope  of 
the  age  in  which  this  book  was  written, 
namely  the  first  century  before  Jesus,  or  per- 
haps a  few  years  earlier:  169And  the  Lord 
said  unto  Moses  *  *  *  "And  after  this  they 
will  turn  to  me  in  all  uprightness  and  with 
all  their  heart  and  with  all  their  soul  *  *  * 
and  I  shall  create  in  them  a  holy  spirit  *  *  * 
and  they  will  be  called  children  of  the  living 
God  *  *  *  and  they  will  know  that  I  am  their 
Father  in  uprightness,  and  that  I  love  them." 
In  the  book  further  on,  Abraham's  last  words 
have  special  interest  for  us :  170"I  see,  my  son, 
that  all  the  works  of  the  children  of  men  are 
sin  and  wickedness,  and  all  their  deeds  are 
uncleanness  and  a  pollution,  and  there  is  no 
righteousness  with  them  *  *  *  Turn  away 
from  all  their  deeds  and  all  their  uncleanli- 


196          JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

ness  and  observe  the  ordinance  of  the  Most 
High  God,  and  do  His  will,  and  be  upright  in 
all  things." 

For  the  author  of  this  work,  and  his  school, 
the  Jews  were  the  priests  of  the  Most  High 
until  that  time  when  "all  will  be  called  the 
children  of  the  living  God." 

The  important  Book  of  the  Testaments  of 
the  Twelve  Patriarchs  is  replete  with  evi- 
dence that  when  it  was  written,  a  little  be- 
fore the  first  century  before  the  Christian 
era,  Judaism  was  not  without  the  many  who 
deemed  righteousness  and  uprightness  a  pri- 
mary virtue.  We  have  already  dealt  with  this 
work  as  with  others,  in  Chapter  III,  yet  a  few 
quotations  will  emphasize  our  point.  "And 
now  my  children,"  says  Gad,  171"I  exhort  you, 
love  ye  each  one  his  brother,  and  put  away 
hatred  from  your  hearts ;  love  one  another  in 
deed  and  in  word,  and  in  the  inclination  of 
the  soul.  Love  ye  one  another  from  the 
heart,  and  if  a  man  sin  against  thee,  speak 
peaceably  to  him,  and  in  thy  soul  hold  not 
guile;  and  if  he  repent  and  confess,  forgive 
him  *  *  *  172Put  away  therefore  jealousy 
from  your  souls,  and  love  one  another  with 
uprightness  of  heart."  173Issachar  too,  would 
have  his  children  live  in  uprightness,  and  he 
counsels  them:  "When  therefore  I  grew 
up,  my  children,  I  walked  in  uprightness  of 
heart  *  *  *  And  my  father  blessed  me,  for 
he  said  that  I  w^lke^  in  rectitude  before 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS          197 

him.  174And  I  was  not  a  busybody  in  my  do- 
ings nor  envious  and  malicious  against  my 
neighbor.  I  never  slandered  anyone,  nor  did 
I  censure  the  life  of  any  man,  walking  as  I 
did  in  singleness  of  eye.  And  now  hearken 
to  me  my  children,  and  walk  in  singleness  of 
heart  *  *  *  The  single-minded  man  coveteth 
not  gold,  he  over-reacheth  not  his  neighbor 
*  *  *  and  beholdeth  all  things  in  uprightness 
of  heart.  Keep  therefore  my  children,  the 
law  of  God,  and  get  singleness,  and  walk  in 
guilessness,  not  playing  the  busybody  with 
the  business  of  your  neighbor,  but  love  the 
Lord  and  your  neighbor,  and  have  compassion 
on  the  poor  and  the  weak."  And  this  was  a 
document  that  was  circulated  nearly  two  hun- 
dred years  before  Christianity  began  to  have 
any  power ! 

There  are  two  other  books  which  throw 
valuable  light  on  this  matter.  They  were 
both  written  within  about  the  first  half  of 
the  first  century  of  the  present  era,  and  are 
therefore  almost  contemporaneous  with  the 
supposed  sayings  of  Jesus.  To  summarize 
to  some  extent  the  teachings  of  these  and 
other  works,  one  need  only  read  an  obser- 
vation of  Prof.  Charles,  in  his  Apocalypse 
of  Baruch.  Commenting  on  the  term  "the 
righteousness  of  all"  he  says:  "Dr.  Sanday 
writes  (Romans,  p.  29) :  175<For  a  Jew  the 
whole  sphere  of  righteousness  was  taken  up 
by  the  Mosaic  Law.  His  one  idea  of  right- 


198          JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

ousness  was  that  of  conformity  to  this  Law. 
Righteousness  was  for  him  essentially  obe- 
dience to  the  Law/  That  these  words  are 
true  of  the  conception  of  righteousness  en- 
tertained by  the  writers  of  this  book  will  be 
seen  by  a  perusal  of  the  note  on  XIV.  But 
naturally  the  conception  of  righteousness  va- 
ried according  as  it  was  used  by  the  legalistic 
or  the  prophetical  wing,  if  I  may  so  speak, 
of  Pharisaism.  With  the  strict  Legalists 
righteousness  meant  the  fulfillment  first  and 
mainly  of  the  ceremonial  observance,  and 
secondly,  but  only  in  a  very  subordinate  de- 
gree, of  works  of  mercy.  See,  for  instance, 
The  Book  of  Jubilees.  With  the  prophetical 
wing,  from  which  emanated  most  of  the 
Messianic  apocalypses,  righteousness  was 
taken  in  its  large  sense  as  the  fulfillment  of 
moral  duties,  and  only  a  very  secondary  de- 
gree of  ceremonial.  The  Ethiopic  and  Sla- 
vonic Books  of  Enoch  are  illustrations  of  the 
latter  statements.  *  *  *  " 

In  this  one  paragraph  Dr.  Charles  tells  the 
story  of  the  attitude  of  the  older  school  to- 
wards the  Jews  of  the  first  and  second  cen- 
turies. The  opinion  cited  by  Dr.  Sanday  is 
typical  of  nearly  every  other  commentator. 
Yet  how  statements  of  that  sort  can  be  main- 
tained in  the  face  of  the  literature  which  we 
have  from  that  period  is  hard  to  understand. 
Certainly  there  were  legalistic  Jews;  there 
are  such  now.  But  to  say  that  the  one  idea 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS          199 

of  even  legalistic  Jews  was  the  "conformity 
of  the  Law"  in  the  sense  of  excluding  the  eth- 
ical spirit  from  this  "conformity,"  is  doing 
violence  to  the  religious  conscience  of  the  Jew 
and  to  the  whole  institution  of  Judaism.  One 
wishes  that  Professor  Charles  had  been  more 
emphatic  in  his  supplement  to,  or  rather  cor- 
rection of,  Sanday's  statement. 

We  have  thus  far  tried  to  show  that  from 
the  days  of  the  prophets,  to  the  rise  of  the 
New  Testament  writings,  Judaism  emphasiz- 
ed the  principle  of  righteousness.  Were  this 
not  so,  the  literature  of  those  periods  could 
not  have  reflected  it  so  strongly.  That  there 
were  backsliders  is  admitted.  There  are 
some  today — and  on  moral  backsliders,  Juda- 
ism has  no  monopoly.  That  there  were  hypo- 
crites is  very  conceivable  if  human  nature  be 
judged  by  men  of  today.  But  this  no  faith 
has  yet  eradicated,  and  no  belief  has  yet  ex- 
terminated. 

We  have  endeavored  to  adduce  enough  evi- 
dence to  show  as  false,  the  statement  that  at 
the  time  of  the  rise  of  Christianity  the  re- 
ligion of  the  Jew  was  a  heartless  legalism 
and  that  "all  was  formal,  legal  and  prescrib- 
ed." We  have  tried  to  show  that  righteous- 
ness with  the  Jew  was  spontaneous,  sincere 
and  of  a  truly  spiritual  character.  The  Jew 
tried  to  do  that  which  he  fancied  his  God 
desired.  He  endeavored  to  live  according  to 
the  Torah  which  prescribed  righteousness, 


200          JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

and  according  to  the  statutes  which  gave  life 
and  which  helped  to  better  it.  But  the  "Law" 
in  itself  as  Law  was  not  the  end.  The  Jew 
who  thought  of  his  spiritual  welfare  and 
wanted  to  be  righteous,  knew  that  he  could 
attain  this  through  proper  observance  of  the 
Torah ;  and  this  term  meant  much  more  than 
the  word  "Law."  To  say  that  the  aim  of 
the  Jew  at  this  time  was  to  execute  the  Law 
only  as  a  legalistic  proposition,  and  to  imply 
that  rectitude  and  righteousness  were  sec- 
ondary considerations  or  none  at  all,  is  as  far 
from  the  truth  as  are  some  of  the  statements 
made  by  writers  who  are  neither  friendly  to 
Judaism,  just  to  its  cause,  nor  proficient  in 
its  thought. 

The  Talmud  and  the  Midrash,  portraying 
the  innermost  recesses  of  the  cosmopolitan 
Jewish  life,  have  given  us  plenty  of  evidence 
that  the  ideal  of  righteousness  was  as  virile 
in  the  days  of  their  development  as  at  any 
other  period.  The  old  sages,  teachers,  and 
rabbis  believed  with  all  their  hearts  that 
righteousness  was  as  instinctive  to  Judaism 
as  worship  itself.  He  who  would  enjoy  bliss 
in  the  future  must  live  righteously  here  in 
the  present.  And  this  righteousness  was  not 
a  one-sided  affair.  It  was  not  an  affair  only 
between  man  and  God;  it  was  a  matter  be- 
tween man  and  man,  no  less  than  between 
man  and  God.  Some  even  believed  that  he 
who  committed  an  act  of  unrighteousness 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS          201 

against  his  fellowman  was  less  deserving  of 
divine  forgiveness  than  he  who  committed  a 
sin  against  his  God.  176God  will  forgive  the 
sins  that  you  commit  against  Him,"  says  one 
authority,  "but  the  sins  which  one  commits 
against  his  fellowman  will  not  be  forgiven 
by  God  until  he  who  has  been  sinned  against 
has  been  asked  forgiveness."  They  say  that 
the  Judaism  of  those  days  was  an  affair  of 
outward  piety  towards  God.  Hardly  can  we 
believe  this,  in  the  face  of  the  following  com- 
monly known  saying:  177"It  is  fitting  and 
proper  that  one  should  be  right  in  the  sight  of 
God;  but  one  should  act  also,  that  he  be  just 
and  right  in  the  eyes  of  man."  If  righteous- 
ness were  not  sincere,  and  was  only  another 
cloak  for  hyprocisy,  we  could  hardly  have  em- 
bodied in  popular  literature  the  statement 
that  178"the  righteous  stand  higher  than  the 
angels." 

There  is  perhaps  no  more  beautiful  saying 
in  the  whole  literature  than  the  one  ascribed 
to  the  Rabbi  who  said  that  179"he  who  does 
justly  and  loves  mercy,  fills  the  whole  world 
with  love."  How  deeply  this  touches  the 
heart !  If  true  love,  unselfish,  altruistic  and 
godlike,  is  at  the  bottom  of  the  "higher  right- 
eousness" of  Jesus,  as  Harnack  180maintains, 
then  there  were  many  other  Jews  beside  the 
New  Testament  teacher,  who  were  teachers 
and  exemplars  of  this  higher  righteousness. 
They  probably  did  not  stop  to  measure  every 


202          JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

act,  but  they  acted  justly  and  they  yearned 
for  the  "Shekinah,"  the  Holy  Presence — in 
their  midst.  How  highly  they  valued  jus- 
tice may  be  gained  from  the  saying  that 
181" justice  is  one  of  the  supports  of  God's 
throne."  To  those  who  insist  that  sacrifice 
and  not  ethical  ideal  was  the  more  important 
thing  in  life,  one  should  cite  the  words  of 
comment  on  the  182verse  of  Proverbs:  183"To 
do  justice  and  righteousness  is  more  accept- 
able to  God  than  to  offer  sacrifices."  "Sacri- 
fices," the  old  teachers  said,  "availed  only 
during  the  Temple.  Righteousness  and  judg- 
ment atoned  both  before  and  after  the  Tem- 
ple." 184"Righteousness,"  said  one  of  the  pop- 
ular rabbis,  "is  nobler  than  sacrifices,  for 
while  sacrifices  apply  only  to  this  world, 
righteousness  applies  also  to  the  world  to 
come."  This  may  be  to  us  a  theological  fancy, 
but  it  shows  the  place  of  righteousness  even 
in  the  popular  theology  of  the  early  cen- 
turies. 185We  are  informed  also,  that  the 
Lord  told  David  that  his  charity  and  his 
righteousness  were  more  acceptable  to  Him 
than  the  Temple. 

The  righteous,  according  to  the  rabbis,  are 
they  who  permit  the  good  inclination  ^in- 
stead of  the  evil  one,  to  direct  their  actions. 
One  of  the  characteristics  of  these  righteous, 
is  that  their  "aye"  is  "aye,"  and  their  "nay" 
is  "nay."  187This  is  not  from  the  New  Testa- 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS          203 

ment,  but  from  a  Midrash  compiled  of  older 
sources. 

Another  Midrash  of  early  date  tells  us 
that  God  says:  188"Be  like  unto  me;  as  I 
requite  good  for  evil,  so  do  thou  requite  good 
for  evil."  The  one  rabbinic  saying  which  in 
these  days  is  quoted  more  than  any  other  is 
that  of  which  the  New  Testament  Golden 
Rule  is  the  positive.  The  story  in  which  it 
occurs  is  interesting:  A  Gentile  once  came 
to  Hillel  and  asked  him  to  teach  him  the  Law 
while  he  stood  on  one  foot.  189"What  is  hate- 
ful unto  thee,"  said  the  gentle  teacher,  "do 
not  unto  thy  neighbor.  This  is  the  sum  of 
the  law,  the  rest  is  commentary,  go  and 
learn."  In  the  thought  of  Hillel,  a  right- 
eous man  will  commit  no  offense  against  any- 
one. It  seems  to  us  that  the  Golden  Rule  of 
Hillel  and  the  Golden  Rule  of  Jesus  supple- 
ment each  other  in  a  most  marvelous  way. 
Neither  is  complete  without  the  other: 
"What  is  hateful  unto  thee,  do  not  unto  oth- 
ers, but  do  unto  others  as  you  would  have 
others  do  unto  you."  On  this  Golden  Rule, 
all  men  ought  to  be  able  to  unite. 

These  passages  ought  to  convince  any  one 
that  righteousness  was  a  most  vital  force  in 
the  religious  life  of  the  Jew  during  the  Phar- 
isaic period,  and  that  the  accusation  that  this 
religious  principle  was  so  deadened  as  to  t}e 
of  no  telling  value,  is  fallacious.  To  be  a 
"tsaddik,"  a  righteous  one,  in  Israel,  has  al- 


204          JUDAISM  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

ways  been  the  desire  of  many,  but  the  priv- 
ilege of  the  few,  just  as  it  is  among  people  in 
our  own  days.  The  "tsaddik"  was  a  man  of 
religious  scrupulosity,  of  honor  and  respect, 
and  to  be  known  as  one  was  as  holy  and  as 
fervent  a  desire  before  the  advent  and  growth 
of  the  new  faith,  as  it  has  been  since  that 
time.  Our  American  individual  as  well  as 
national  ideal  of  righteousness  is  a  Jewish 
ideal,  prophetic  in  its  origin  and  in  its  inspira- 
tion, and  pharisaic  in  its  spiritual  longing 
to  attain  godliness,  perfection,  and  oneness 
with  one  Creator.  The  ideal  of  righteous- 
ness sought  for  today  is  no  different  from 
that  of  the  Rabbis  of  the  Talmud,  from  the 
Pharisaic  teachers  of  the  inter-testamental 
period,  and  from  that  of  men  of  the  stripe  of 
Ezekiel  who  taught  and  believed  that  if  a  19° 
"man  be  just  and  do  that  which  is  right  and 
just,  *  *  hath  executed  true  judgment  be- 
tween man  and  man,  hath  walked  in  My 
statutes  and  hath  kept  My  commandments, 
to  deal  truly,  he  is  just,  he  shall  surely  live, 
saith  the  Lord/* 

Charity 

Some  one  has  said,  and  it  has  been  re- 
peated, that  there  is  no  Hebrew  word  for 
"charity."  This  is  not  quite  correct.  The 
Hebrew  Bible  contains  no  word  for  charity; 
but  the  word  "tsedaka"  in  later  literature 
assumes  that  meaning  and  that  of  almsgiv- 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS          205 

ing.  In  the  Talmud  and  Midrash,  "right- 
eousness" takes  on  the  meaning  of  our  word 
"charity,"  and  is  regarded  as  one  of  the 
fundamental  religious  requirements.  The 
worse  the  economic  conditions  of  Babylonian 
and  Palestinian  Jewry  grew,  the  greater  be- 
came the  virtue  of  charity;  and  so  exalted 
a  principle  does  it  later  become,  that  the 
writings  of  the  first  few  centuries  simply 
abound  in  it.  It  becomes  the  standard  for 
the  truly  religious  life,  and  the  mark  of  the 
righteous  man;  they  who  refuse  to  do 
charity  forthwith  read  themselves  out  of  the 
party  of  the  godly;  and  he  is  held  in  dis- 
honor who  refuses  to  heed  the  cry  of  the 
poor  and  the  needy.  Charity  became  an  ideal 
than  which  none  stood  higher.  It  became 
the  very  symbol  of  the  saintly  life ;  it  opened 
the  eyes  to  the  sufferings  of  others ;  it  warm- 
ed the  hearts  of  men,  and  made  them  re- 
sponsive to  the  cries  of  the  needy.  It  was 
the  pillar  of  light  in  the  darkness  of  poverty, 
and  it  was  indeed  literally  the  m"deliverer 
from  death."  Something  has  already  been 
said  about  charity,  in  the  preceding  pages, 
yet  for  the  sake  of  greater  fullness  a  few 
more  references  will  be  given  to  show  that 
charity  was  not  a  creation  of  Christianity, 
as  millions  of  Christians  faithfully  believe, 
but  before  the  newer  faith  had  even  felt 
itself  as  a  force,  the  Jews  had  already  ex- 
alted charity  as  one  pf  their  noblest  ancj  most 


206          JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

deeply  religious  teachings.  We  speak  of  this 
social  ideal  because  it  still  has  a  distinctive 
function  in  our  society.  It  is  still  a  neces- 
sary element  in  our  social  makeup,  though 
we  hope  for  the  day  when  the  dominant  ap- 
plication of  the  principle  of  social  justice  will 
do  away  with  this  particular  virtue. 

Though  the  word  charity  does  not  occur 
in  the  Bible,  the  idea  had  been  highly  devel- 
oped by  the  close  of  the  Old  Testament 
books;  the  apocryphal  and  pseudepigraphic 
literature  deals  with  it,  and  the  Books  of 
Enoch,  Ben  Sirach,  Tobit,  Jubilees,  and  the 
Testaments  of  the  Twelve  Patriarchs  all 
speak  of  it  freely. 

192"Stretch  thine  hands  unto  the  poor  that 
thy  blessings  may  be  perfected,"  says  Ben 
Sirach,  "for  a  gift  hath  grace  in  the  sight  of 
every  living  man,  and  for  the  dead  detain  it 
not."  193"He  that  is  merciful  will  lend  unto 
his  neighbors."  "Lend  to  thy  neighbor  in 
time  of  his  need,  yet  have  thou  patience  with 
a  man  of  poor  estate  and  delay  not  to  show 
him  mercy.  Help  the  poor  for  the  com- 
mandments' sake  and  turn  him  not  away  be- 
cause of  his  poverty."  Tobit  tells  how  he 
commanded  his  son  to  bring  home  to  the 
meal,  194"what  poor  man  soever  thou  shalt 
find  out  of  our  brethren,  who  is  mindful  of 
the  Lord."  He  tells  how  he  gave  alms  to  his 
brethren  and  bread  to  the  hungry;  clothing 
to  the  naked  and  burial  to  the  dead.  It  is  in 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS          207 

this  book  that  we  find  the  proverb  195"right- 
eousness  delivers  from  death"  repeated,  but 
righteousness  here,  means  charity. 

We  can  refer  here  again  to  the  Testament 
of  Zebulon:  196"And  now  my  children,  I  bid 
you  to  keep  the  command  of  the  Lord;  to 
show  mercy  to  your  neighbor  and  to  have 
compassion  towards  all.  Not  towards  men 
only,  but  also  towards  beasts.  Have  com- 
passion in  your  hearts.  I  sailed  *  *  *  catch- 
ing fish,  and  through  compassion  I  shared 
my  catch  with  every  stranger.  And  if  a  man 
were  a  stranger,  or  sick,  or  aged  I  boiled  the 
lish  *  *  *  and  offered  them  to  all  men  *  *  * 
grieving  with  and  having  compassion  upon 
them." 

197"I  saw  a  man  in  distress  through  naked- 
ness in  winter  time,  and  had  compassion  upon 
him  and  stole  away  a  garment  secretly 
from  my  father's  house  and  gave  it  to  him 
who  was  in  distress.  Do  you  therefore,  my 
children,  from  that  which  God  bestoweth 
upon  you,  show  compassion  and  mercy  with- 
out hesitation  to  all  men,  and  give  to  every 
man  with  a  good  heart."  This  quotation  is 
a  very  unique  one.  Here  the  author  repre- 
sents himself  as  violating  one  of  the  Ten 
Commandments  rather  than  see  a  man  in 
distress  suffer.  It  is  a  telling  commentary 
on  the  statements  of  those  who  insist  that 
Judaism  was,  at  that  time,  a  hard,  heartless 
legalism. 


208          JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

Among  the  most  beautiful  sentiments 
about  charity  and  kindness,  are  those  found 
in  the  Rabbinical  writings.  Rabbi  Samuel  ben 
Nechemia  said:  198"Woe  unto  the  wicked 
ones,  who  would  overthrow  the  quality  of 
mercy."  199"Deeds  of  loving  kindness,"  says 
one  sage,  "are  worth  more  than  charity. 
Charity  is  done  at  the  mere  sacrifice  of 
money;  but  deeds  of  loving  kindness  are 
done  both  with  sacrifice  of  money  and  with 
personal  efforts.  Almsgiving  benefits  only 
the  poor;  but  deeds  of  loving  kindness  are 
for  both  the  poor  and  the  rich."  200There 
were  some  who  regarded  charity  even  high- 
er than  justice,  and  who  proclaimed  "first 
charity,  then  justice."  There  were  those 
who  believed  that  giving  in  secret  was  a 
great  virtue  and  Rabbi  Eliezer  did  not  hesi- 
tate to  say  that  201"he  who  gives  in  secret  is 
greater  than  Moses."  While  at  the  same 
time  we  are  told  that  Rav  Assi  said  that 
"almsgiving  is  equivalent  to  the  doing  of  all 
the  other  commandments  of  the  Torah."  To 
those  who  say  that  among  the  Jews  the  of- 
fering of  sacrifices  was  the  principal  relig- 
ious duty,  we  would  give  in  reply  the  words 
of  Rabbi  Elozer,  who  maintained  that  202 
"charity  is  greater  than  all  the  sacrifices." 
Nor  was  poverty  thought  to  be  a  disgrace 
among  the  Talmudic-time  Jews.  For  a  well 
known  teacher,  Rabbi  Joshua,  taught  that  the 
208"poor  who  is  aided,  does  more  fpr  the 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS          209 

giver  than  the  giver  does  for  him  whom  he 
helps."  It  was  accounted  a  meritorious  deed 
to  aid  a  poor  man,  and  the  more  the  oppor- 
tunities to  help  were  taken  advantage  of,  the 
more  comfort  did  the  righteous  receive. 
204"He  who  closes  his  eyes  to  the  needs  of 
charity,"  said  the  teacher,  Joshua,  "acts  as 
if  he  were  an  idol  worshipper."  If  one  knows 
that  idol-worshipping  was  one  of  the  three 
cardinal  sins  in  Judaism,  one  may  understand 
how  lowly  an  uncharitable  person  was  es- 
teemed in  the  community  of  Israel.  And 
even  today,  the  Jew  who  can  afford  to,  but 
does  not  give  to  charity,  is  generally  re- 
garded as  the  lowest  of  his  people.  "Take 
care,"  says  an  injunction  in  an  early  book 
of  etiquette,  205"that  your  door  is  not  shut 
while  you  are  sitting  at  a  meal."  The  im- 
plication, of  course,  is  to  keep  no  one  who 
may  be  hungry  away  from  your  table.  An 
old  tradition  has  it  that  God  thus  spake  to 
Israel:  206"My  sons,  what  do  I  seek  of  you? 
I  desire  nothing  of  you  but  that  you  love  one 
another  and  honor  one  another."  And  in 
that  code  in  which  we  found  the  statement 
just  referred  to  above,  we  find  also  the  pre- 
cept, "love  mankind  and  honor  it."  These 
were  not  the  ideals  of  one  Jew.  They  were 
the  common  thoughts  of  the  Jews  who  made 
Judaism  and  lived  the  Jewish  life.  It  is 
true  that  some  of  these  aspirations  are  from 
literature  later  than  the  New  Testament. 


210          JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

But  all  of  them  show  the  habitual  thought 
and  life  of  the  Jews,  who  would  not  have  been 
influenced  by  the  writings  of  the  New 
Covenant,  for  these  writings  were  taboo 
among  Jews,  and  were  not  recognized  as  holy 
even  by  all  Christians  until  the  latter  part  of 
the  fourth  century.  The  bitterness  between 
the  early  Christians  and  the  Jews  had  the 
effect  of  nullifying  any  influence  that  the 
New  Testament  might  have  tended  to  have 
upon  Jews.  Moreover,  they  hardly  knew  these 
writings;  the  early  Christians  themselves 
hardly  knew  them;  and  their  circulation 
among  Jews  except  perhaps  among  the  larger 
cities  of  Paul's  sphere  of  activity,  was  so  in- 
signficant  that  the  larger  portion  of  Jewish 
teachers  neither  knew  them  nor  took  cog- 
nizance of  them.  Charity,  mercy,  and  kind- 
ness were  always  Jewish  ethical  motives,  and 
the  incorporation  of  these  into  the  new  canon, 
in  no  wise  lessens  their  Jewishness.  In  clos- 
ing this  section,  the  words  of  Tobit  may  well 
be  repeated:  207"My  son,  be  mindful  of  the 
Lord  thy  God  all  thy  days,  and  let  not  thy 
will  be  set  to  sin,  or  to  transgress  His  com- 
mandments; do  rightly  all  thy  life  long,  and 
follow  not  the  ways  of  the  unrighteous.  Give 
alms  of  thy  substance ;  and  when  thou  givest 
alms  let  not  thine  eye  be  envious,  neither  turn 
thy  face  from  the  poor;  and  the  face  of  God 
shall  not  be  turned  from  thee.  If  thou  hast 
abundance,  give  alms  accordingly,  and  if  thou 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS          211 

hast  little,  be  not  afraid  to  give  according  to 
that  little.  For  thou  layest  up  a  good  treas- 
ure for  thyself  against  the  day  of  necessity, 
because  that  alms  do  deliver  from  death,  and 
suffereth  not  to  come  into  darkness."  And 
to  these  we  may  add  words  which  are  as  true 
today  as  they  were  when  first  uttered: 
208"There  is  no  limit  to  the  doing  of  deeds  of 
loving  kindness." 

Peace. 

Aside  from  the  horror  of  bloodshed  itself, 
nothing  has  given  a  greater  impulse  to  the 
ideal  of  universal  peace  than  the  Bible;  and 
never  have  the  visions  of  peace  been  more 
gloriously  described  than  by  the  Jewish 
prophets;  the  Jewish  consciousness  has  been 
a  repository  of  the  wish  for  that  messianic 
era  which  was  to  free  mankind  from  blood- 
shed, and  the  Jewish  heart  beats  with  the 
fervent  hope  that  those  visions  will  some  day 
be  realized.  Yet  the  modern  works  on  peace 
scarcely  mention  the  Jews'  splendid  contri- 
bution; and  hardly  is  it  referred  to  in  the 
histories  which  purport  to  give  authentic  ac- 
counts of  the  ideal  of  Universal  Peace.  And 
this  is  not  as  strange  as  it  is  painful  to  the 
Jew.  For  he  knows  that  from  the  earliest  days 
war  was  at  the  opposite  pole  of  his  thought. 
The  ancient  altar  209if  made  of  stone,  was  not 
built  of  hewn  stone;  iron  would  have  to  be 
used  to  hew  such  stone,  and  how  could  iron 


212          JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

be  used  in  the  construction  of  that  which  was 
consecrated  to  God,  when  out  of  that  same 
material  those  instruments  were  made,  which 
took  that  which  was  most  sacred  to  God,  life 
itself?  It  was  not,  however,  until  later  that 
the  idea  of  peace  took  a  real  hold  of  the  Jew- 
ish leaders'  minds  in  all  of  its  glorious  gran- 
deur. And  it  was  the  matchless  Isaiah  first, 
who  made  use  of  that  great  vision  towards 
the  realization  of  which  mankind  seems  now 
to  be  tending.  It  was  Israel  who  was  to  be 
the  teacher  from  whom  other  nations  were  to 
learn  how  to  destroy  the  instruments  of  de- 
struction. Peace  was  to  be  founded  upon 
righteousness  and  truth ;  and  the  word  of  God 
as  Israel  understood  it,  was  to  be  the  fountain 
from  which  the  waters  of  peace  were  to  issue. 
The  prophet's  vision  was  not  founded  upon 
the  empty  hypocrisy  of  modern  cant.  Per- 
haps he  was  too  hopeful ;  perhaps  he  and  his 
colleagues  were  carried  away  by  the  holy 
beauty  of  a  peaceful  humanity  that  would 
come  with  trustfulness,  righteousness  and 
truth,  even  though  only  one  nation  may  be- 
come among  these,  the  instructor  of  others. 
Through  the  years  of  toil  and  turmoil  fol- 
lowing the  best  period  of  Israel's  first  mon- 
archy, the  thought  of  peace  never  left  its 
consciousness.  Not  only  Isaiah  but  Micah 
proclaimed,  210"and  it  shall  come  to  pass  in 
the  last  days  that  the  mountain  of  the  Lord's 
house  shall  be  established  firmly  on  the  top  of 


BE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS   2*3 


the  mountains,  and  shall  be  exalted  above 
the  hills,  and  unto  it  people  shall  flow;  and 
many  nations  shall  say:  'Come  ye  and  let  us 
go  up  to  the  mountain  of  the  Lord,  and  to  the 
house  of  the  God  of  Jacob,  that  he  may  teach 
us  of  his  ways,  and  that  we  may  walk  in  his- 
paths,  for  out  of  Zion  shall  go  forth  the  law, 
and  the  word  of  the  Lord  out  of  Jerusalem; 
and  He  shall  judge  between  many  people,  and 
decide  for  strong  nations  even  afar  off;  and 
they  shall  beat  their  swords  into  plough- 
shares, and  their  spears  into  pruning  hooks, 
nations  shall  not  lift  up  sword  against  nation, 
and  they  shall  not  learn  war  any  more."  The 
world  shall  not  only  learn  international  peace, 
but  more  secure  yet  shall  men  be,  for 
211"every  man  shall  sit  under  his  own  vine 
and  fig  tree,  with  none  to  make  them  afraid." 
The  picture  is  colossal,  indeed,  when  one  con- 
siders the  frightful  loss  of  life,  the  awful 
waste  of  strength,  the  enormity  of  the  outlay 
and  the  horrors  of  civil  and  international 
warfare  What  a  stupendous  lesson  the  world 
has  yet  to  learn  from  the  Jews  of  prophetic 
days  !  Indeed  the  prince  of  peace  was  not  he 
whose  followers  read  in  his  name:  212"Think 
not  that  I  have  come  to  send  peace  on  the 
earth  ;  I  come  not  to  send  peace,  but  a  sword. 
For  I  come  to  set  a  man  at  variance  with  his 
father,  and  the  daughter  against  her  mother, 
and  the  daughter-in-law  against  the  mother- 
in-law,  and  a  man's  foes  shall  be  they  of  his 


214          JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

own  household."  The  princes  of  peace  have 
they  rather  been  in  whose  hearts  there  flamed 
the  prophetic  love  of  peace,  and  upon  whose 
bodies  there  fell  the  stripes  of  bigotry,  op- 
pression and  persecution.  They  are  the 
princes  of  peace  who  refused  to  sell  their 
souls  for  an  outward  peace  and  an  inner  dis- 
traction, and  who  in  spite  of  every  mode  of 
relentless  barbarity,  still  longed  for  it,  and 
hoped  for  it  in  the  face  of  the  seeming  hope- 
lessness of  the  struggle  to  obtain  it. 

It  is  true  that  there  are  pages  in  the  Old 
Testament  which  are  records  of  bloody  wars 
won  and  lost;  it  is  to  be  granted  that  there 
are  ideas  set  forth  in  it  which  cannot  be 
messages  for  today.  Yet  a  collection  like  that 
has  its  fine  elements  as  well  as  the  other;  and 
the  contents  of  the  Bible  ought  not  to  be 
judged  simply  because  they  occur  on  its 
pages,  but  by  the  part  they  play  or  have 
played  in  the  history  of  the  thought  of  Juda- 
ism. We  would  hardly  be  justified  in  saying 
that  Jesus  preached  war  because  of  a  few 
warlike  passages ;  and  so,  the  records  of  wars 
in  the  Book  do  not  prove  that  war  was  de- 
sired or  advocated.  Not  war,  but  peace,  is 
the  stronger  Jewish  theme;  not  blood  and 
slaughter,  but  mercy  and  life  are  the  aims 
of  Jewish  endeavor.  It  may  be  pleasing  to 
some  to  select  portions  of  warlike  ferocity 
and  label  them  Jewish;  but  in  the  highway 
of  Judaism,  these  had  negative  values,  and 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS          215 

in  the  heart  of  Judaism,  bloodshed  found 
place  only  when  circumstances  forced  them 
into  the  exigencies  of  Jewish  life.  The  noblest 
purposes  of  the  Jewish  soul  were  not  those  of 
desolation  and  war;  but  greater  by  far,  were 
they  those  of  life-preserving  justice,  love, 
mercy  and  peace. 

If  ever  there  were  dreamers  of  a  universal 
peace  in  which  a  spirit  of  holiness  and  fine 
humaness  would  pervade,  they  were  the 
prophets  and  the  sages.  Nothing  in  modern 
peace  literature  compares  with  that  simple 
picture  of  Isaiah  in  which  he  portrays  the 
future  of  the  people  whose  social  regener- 
ation will  be  completed.  213"Then  judgment 
shall  dwell  even  in  the  wilderness  and  right- 
eousness shall  remain  in  the  fruitful  field; 
and  the  work  of  righteousness  shall  be  peace, 
and  the  effect  of  righteousness  shall  be  quiet- 
ness and  assurance  forever.  And  my  people 
shall  dwell  in  a  peaceful  habitation  and  in 
sure  dwellings  and  in  resting  places."  It  is 
the  simple,  peaceful,  calm,  untroubled  life  of 
a  nation  whose  citizens  attend  to  their  duties ; 
whose  inhabitants  filled  with  the  spirit  of 
justice  and  righteousness,  fulfill  their  respon- 
sibilities, and  live  in  that  tranquility  which 
produces  lasting  peace  and  happiness.  What 
a  strong  contrast  between  this  old  Jewish 
ideal  and  the  pogroms,  massacres  and  sav- 
agery in  Russia,  Belgium  and  France,  and 
now,  since  the  war,  in  Galicia  and  Poland ! 


216          JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

In  the  face  of  the  late  unheard  of  cata- 
clysm let  us  recall  the  immortal  words  of  that 
Prince  of  Peace  whose  prophecy  seems  far- 
ther than  ever  from  realization :  214"And  there 
shall  come  forth  a  rod  out  of  the  stem  of 
Jesse  and  a  branch  shall  grow  out  of  his 
roots,  and  the  spirit  of  the  Lord  shall  rest 
upon  him,  the  spirit  of  wisdom  and  under- 
standing, the  spirit  of  counsel  and  might,  the 
spirit  of  knowledge  and  the  fear  of  the  Lord, 
and  it  shall  make  him  of  quick  understand- 
ing in  the  fear  of  the  Lord.  And  he  shall  not 
judge  after  the  sight  of  his  eyes,  neither  re- 
prove after  the  hearing  of  his  ears ;  but  with 
righteousness  shall  he  judge  the  poor,  and 
reprove  with  equity  the  meek  of  the  earth; 
and  he  shall  smite  the  earth  with  the  rod  of 
his  mouth,  and  with  the  breath  of  his  lips 
shall  he  slay  the  wicked;  and  righteousness 
shall  be  the  girdle  of  his  loins,  and  faithful- 
ness the  girdle  of  his  reins.  The  wolf  also 
shall  dwell  with  the  lamb,  and  the  leopard 
shall  lie  down  with  the  kid ;  and  the  calf  and 
the  young  lion  and  the  fatling  together,  and 
a  child  shall  lead  them.  And  the  cow  and 
the  bear  shall  feed,  their  young  ones  shall  lie 
down  together,  and  the  lion  shall  eat  straw 
like  the  ox.  *  *  *  They  shall  not  hurt  nor 
destroy  in  my  whole  kingdom  for  the  earth 
shall  be  full  of  knowledge  of  God  as  the 
waters  cover  the  sea."  Yet  there  are  those 
who  say  that  the  messiah  has  come! 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS          217 

The  words  of  Isaiah,  Micah,  Zechariah,  and 
the  psalmist  made  lasting  impressions  upon 
Israel.  Their  lessons  have  ever  been  present 
in  the  teachings  of  Israel's  sages.  With  the 
close  of  the  Old  Testament,  the  post-biblical 
books  took  up  the  hope  of  peace,  and  Ben 
Sirach,  Enoch,  The  Testaments,  Jubilees  and 
Tobit  repeat  the  refrain.  215"The  fear  of 
God,"  says  Ben  Sirach,  "is  a  crown  of  wis- 
dom making  peace  and  restored  health  to 
flourish."  In  a  reverie  of  the  glories  of  the 
past,  the  writer  in  speaking  of  Solomon,  says, 
216"How  wise  wore  thou  in  thy  youth,  as  a 
river  filled  with  understanding.  Thy  soul 
covered  the  earth  *  *  *  and  for  thy  peace 
wert  thou  beloved."  And  then  looking  to- 
ward the  future  with  that  yearning  for  Is- 
rael's glory  that  only  a  Jew  who  knows  his 
history  can  have,  Ben  Sirach  prays,  217"May 
He  grant  you  wisdom  of  heart,  may  there  be 
peace  among  you,  that  peace  may  be  in  Israel 
forever,  that  the  world  may  confirm  His 
mercy  with  us,  and  deliver  us  at  His  time." 
With  righteousness  and  mercy,  with  brother- 
liness  and  love,  peace  was  intermingled,  that 
all  of  these  may  engender  a  complete  har- 
mony among  Israel  and  among  all  the  chil- 
dren of  men. 

No  vision  of  Enoch  showing  him  the  glory 
to  come,  was  complete  without  peace,  and 
time  and  again  is  this  hope  repeated.  In  the 
messianic  era,  218"truth  and  peace  shall  be  as- 


218          JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

sociated  together  throughout  all  the  genera- 
tions of  men,"  and  as  for  the  righteous, 
219"their  lives  shall  be  increased  in  peace,  and 
the  years  of  their  joy  shall  be  multiplied  in 
eternal  gladness  and  peace  all  the  days  of 
their  life."  The  author  of  the  Testaments 
of  the  Twelve  Patriarchs  who  probably  voices 
the  best  thoughts  of  his  day,  looks  forward 
to  that  same  state  of  peace  for  which  the 
others  hoped,  as  a  reward  for  that  kind  of 
conduct  which  is  god-like.  221"There  shall  be 
peace  in  all  the  earth,  for  those  who  have 
been  cleansed  from  their  iniquities."  In  the 
Testaments  of  Judah,  Issacher,  Dan  and  Ben- 
jamin, peace  is  held  out  as  the  highest  bless- 
ing, not  only  for  the  righteous  of  those  among 
Israel,  but  also  for  those  among  the  Gentiles. 
And  the  words  of  Dan  sum  up  very  succinctly 
the  whole  trend  of  thought  with  regard  to 
the  kind  of  life  the  religious  Jew  must  lead, 
and  what  his  ultimate  reward  is  to  be: 
221"0bserve  the  commandments  of  the  Lord, 
and  keep  His  law;  depart  from  wrath  and 
hate  lying  that  the  Lord  may  dwell  among 
you.  Speak  truth  each  one  with  his  neigh- 
bor, so  shall  ye  not  fall  into  wrath  and  con- 
fusion; but  ye  shall  be  in  peace,  so  shall  no 
war  prevail  over  you.  Love  the  Lord  through 
all  your  life  and  one  another  with  a  true 
heart." 

In  the  Book  of  Jubilees  more  than  in  any 
other  work,  occurs  that  oriental  expression  in 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS          219 

vogue  among  Semites  and  used  much  among 
the  Hebrews,  "Go  in  peace."  The  phrase  of 
salutation  among  many  of  the  Jews  even  to- 
day is,  "Peace  be  unto  you."  The  wide  use 
of  this  expression  alone  may  be  an  index  of 
the  depth  of  feeling  attached  to  the  senti- 
ment which  these  words  express.  Other  ex- 
pressions of  the  peace-hope  occur  there, 
among  which  the  loftiest  are  these:  222"May 
thy  seed  be  perfect  in  the  joy  of  heaven  and 
earth  forever;  and  may  thy  seed  rejoice  and 
on  the  great  day  of  peace  may  it  have  peace. 
*  *  *  223"And  when  thou  sittest  on  the  throne 
of  honor  or  righteousness,  there  will  be  great 
peace  for  all  the  seed  of  the  sons  of  the  be- 
loved, and  blessed  will  be  he  that  blesseth 
thee."  Tobit  and  Baruch,  too,  show  the  con- 
tinuity of  this  old  Jewish  hope.  There  is  only 
one  difference  between  their  conception  of 
peace  and  ours.  Theirs  was  a  religious  peace 
for  all  mankind,  ours  is  one  of  political  se- 
curity for  the  safety  of  men  and  nations. 

In  the  rabbinical  literature  we  get  a  larger 
view  of  the  popular  sentiments  with  regard  to 
this  ideal.  But  again  we  may  meet  with  the 
objection  that  "peace  and  good  will"  had  been 
announced  to  mankind  through  the  New  Tes- 
tament sources  which  antedated  the  rab- 
binical. We  must  again  reply  that  the  chao- 
tic condition  of  the  New  Testament  books 
with  regard  to  their  holiness,  and  the  wall 
of  hatred  which  had  been  set  up  between  the 


220          JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

early  Christians  and  the  Jews,  precluded  the 
writings  which  later  became  the  new  canon, 
from  having  any  influence  upon  the  Jews  and 
their  beliefs.  Aside  from  this,  peace  plays 
a  very  inferior  part  in  the  New  Testament. 
Certainly  we  find  no  passage  in  the  gospels 
in  which  war  was  denounced,  and  if  one  were 
so  inclined  one  could  readily  cite  some  pas- 
sages which  might  more  easily  be  unfavorable 
to  peace  than  favorable.  The  passage  in 
Luke:  224"But  those  mine  enemies  which 
would  not  that  I  should  reign  over  them  bring 
them  hither  and  slay  them  before  me,";  or 
the  passage  in  Mark:  225"He  that  believeth 
not  shall  be  damned" ;  or  the  passage  already 
cited:  "I  come  not  to  bring  peace  but  the 
sword,"  certainly  would  indicate  that  peace, 
one  of  the  noblest  ideals  of  the  Jews,  was 
far  from  the  mind  of  Jesus  or  from  those  who 
interpreted  his  teachings.  It  is  true  he  said, 
226"my  peace  I  give  unto  you,"  but  that  is 
rather  a  matter  only  between  Jesus  and  his 
disciples.  We  have  a  few  distinctive  sayings 
such  as  "blessed  are  the  peace  makers,  for 
they  shall  be  called  the  sons  of  God."  But 
this  is  again  a  Jewish  idea  which  seems  out 
of  harmony  with  some  of  these  other  sayings 
attributed  to  Jesus.  The  other  strong  pas- 
sages which  can  be  taken  as  indicating  the 
gospels'  tendency  in  this  direction  are  from 
the  prayer  of  Zacharias  227  and  from  the  song 
of  the  228heavenly  multitude,  the  first  stating 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS          221 

that  the  prophet  "shall  guide  our  feet  in  the 
way  of  peace,"  and  the  second,  "glory  to  God 
in  the  highest  and  peace  among  men  in  whom 
he  is  well  pleased."  Some  of  the  later  books 
repeat  the  ideals  which  the  Bible  and  the 
post-biblical  literature  have  inculcated,  and 
this  is  particularly  true  of  the  Pauline  epis- 
tles. The  influence  of  these,  however,  upon 
Christianity  has  been  more  upon  the  theologi- 
cal side  than  the  social,  and  the  marked  ten- 
dency of  modern  Christianity  is  to  empha- 
size the  gospels  rather  than  the  epistles. 

The  Talmud  is  replete  with  sentiments  born 
out  of  the  deep  desire  for  the  peace  for  which 
the  Jew  so  strongly  hoped  but  which  was  so 
seldom  his.  229"Be  of  the  disciples  of  Aaron, 
loving  peace  and  pursuing  it,"  was  a  trite 
saying.  Of  Aaron  it  was  said  that  230"in  his 
mouth  were  Torah  and  truth;  it  was  he  who 
went  around  among  neighbors  making  peace 
among  them."  Of  God  it  was  said  that  His 
name  is  "peace."  2310ne  teacher  addresses 
God,  saying:  232"Thou  art  peace  and  Thy 
teaching  is  peace."  233"The  Torah  was  given 
for  the  sake  of  peace,"  some  said.  And  to 
Rabbon  Simeon  ben  Gamaliel  is  credited  the 
saying  that  234"the  world  rests  upon  three 
things,  upon  truth,  justice  and  peace."  235 
"Peace  is  one  of  the  pillars  of  the  earth  and 
they  who  pursue  it  will  profit  both  in  this 
world  and  in  the  next,"  was  another  popular 
sentiment. 


222          JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

Rabbi  Eliezer  236  in  the  name  of  Rabbi 
Chanina  says:  "The  wise  will  increase  the 
peace  in  the  world,"  and  Shamaiah  ben  Ab- 
talyon  taught  that  the  Gentiles  who  pursue 
peace  are  more  237worthy  than  the  sons  of 
Aaron  who  do  not  pursue  it.  238Simeon  ben 
Chalafta  believed  that  God  found  no  greater 
blessing  for  Israel  than  peace,  and  others  be- 
lieved that  it  was  the  lack  of  peace  that 
caused  the  destruction  of  the  second  Temple 
although  piety,  charity  and  wisdom  were 
practiced  there.  239We  are  reminded  that  it 
was  one  of  the  virtues  of  Jochanan  ben 
Zakkai  that  he  used  to  be  first  to  salute  every- 
one, even  the  stranger  in  the  market  place, 
by  wishing  him  peace.  We  have  noted  that 
to  wish  one  peace  was  a  method  of  Jewish 
salutation.  The  later  fancy  24°  of  the  Jewish 
teachers  made  peace  one  of  the  seven  serv- 
ants of  the  throne  of  glory,  just  as  in  the 
earlier  literature  the  spirit  of  wisdom  which 
led  to  peace  was  identified  with  God  Himself. 

Peace  was  sometimes  placed  higher  than 
truthful  exactness  and  we  are  told  by  Rav 
Eli  241in  the  name  of  Rabbi  Elozer  ben  Simeon, 
that  one  is  even  permitted  to  modify  a  report 
for  the  sake  of  preserving  peace.  The  Day 
of  Atonement  was  made  a  day  of  general 
peace-making,  and  the  fact  that  man  had 
first  to  make  peace  with  his  fellow-man,  be- 
fore he  could  make  it  with  God,  has  already 
been  referred  to.  For  the  sake  of  peace,  the 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS          223 

gleanings  and  the  left-overs  in  the  fields  at 
harvest  should  not  be  denied  to  the  poor, 
whether  they  be  Jewish  or  non-Jewish;  and 
another  bit  of  rabbinical  wisdom  worth  re- 
quoting  in  this  connection  242is:  "We  should 
support  the  non-Jewish  poor  with  Jewish 
poor,  we  should  visit  the  non-Jewish  sick  with 
Jewish  sick,  and  we  would  bury  the  non- 
Jewish  dead  with  the  Jewish  dead,  for  the 
sake  of  peace." 

Of  the  numerous  prayers  in  the  Talmud 
the  conclusion  of  Rav  Safro's  concerns  us 
particularly :  243"May  it  be  thy  will,"  he  used 
to  say,  "0  Lord  our  God,  that  thou  mayest 
establish  peace  between  the  family  above  and 
the  human  family  here  below."  The  con- 
cluding prayer  in  the  daily  prayer  book,  re- 
cited three  times  a  day  by  the  orthodox  Jew, 
and  retained  in  the  reform  ritual  reads: 
244"He  who  makes  peace  in  the  heavenly 
heights  may  he  establish  peace  unto  us  and 
all  Israel,"  245and  later  authorities  have  sub- 
stituted the  phrase  "unto  all  of  His  children" 
instead  of  "unto  all  Israel." 

These  illustrations  show  how  essentially 
Jewish  the  hope  for  peace  is.  It  was  and 
is  one  of  the  fundamental  ideals  of  the  Jew- 
ish faith.  Yet  it  must  not  be  thought  that 
the  peace  which  Israel  has  yearned  for  is  a 
"peace  without  honor."  No  people  has  lived 
which  has  desired  peace  more — yet  no  people 
has  lived  who  has  sacrificed  more,  for  a  peace 


224          JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

with  honor.  The  terrific  persecutions  which 
Israel  has  undergone  are  the  very  best  proof 
that  its  peace  was  not  to  be  a  coward's  peace. 
Perhaps  no  example  of  steadfastness  to  an 
ideal,  is  more  glorious  than  the  fate  of  Israel 
in  recent  Russia.  All  that  the  Jew  needed  to 
do  there  to  gain  peace — and  equality,  too — 
was  to  mark  the  sign  of  the  cross  on  his  door. 
But  the  Jew  did  not  do  this ;  he  chose  all  that 
the  dreaded  Black  Hundreds  had  in  store  for 
him ;  he  bore  all  the  indignities  of  the  unholy 
Romanoffs — but  he  did  not  surrender  his  soul 
to  a  peace  of  dishonor,  though  three  times  a 
day  he  prayed  and  sighed  and  longed  for 
peace  and  quietude.  What  he  wanted  was  a 
lasting  peace  with  righteousness,  security  and 
justice. 

As  these  lines  are  being  written,  the  end 
of  the  great  cataclysm  which  has  shaken  the 
world  for  more  than  four  years,  has  come. 
The  fields  of  Europe  and  Asia  have  been 
drenched  with  the  blood  of  millions  of  men 
who  have  been  fighting,  with  Jewish  civiliza- 
tion at  stake.  On  the  one  hand  we  had  the 
ideal  of  the  Teutons — the  ideal  of  the  strong 
and  the  mighty,  the  ideal  of  the  powerful 
and  the  superman;  on  the  other  hand,  we 
have  the  ideal  of  the  Bible — the  ideal  which 
has  become  the  bread  and  life  of  the  Allies, 
and  more  especially  of  the  grand  Republic  of 
the  West.  On  the  one  hand  we  had  the 
armies  of  a  war-crazed  clique  fighting  for 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS          225 

empire,  for  more  power,  for  greater  com- 
merce, for  more  extended  self-aggrandize- 
ment ;  on  the  other  hand,  the  armies  fighting 
for  the  brotherhood  of  mankind,  for  justice, 
for  liberty  and  for  a  lasting  and  assured 
peace.  It  was  the  fight  of  the  heathen  against 
the  advocate  of  civilization — it  was  the  fight 
of  the  Germanic  gods  against  social  democ- 
racy— and  again  the  God  of  Israel  has  won. 
And  when  the  peace  negotiations  will  have 
been  concluded,  and  peace  will  again  be  the 
world's  boon,  it  will  be  a  peace  based  upon 
the  ideals  of  President  Wilson  and  his  ad- 
visors, a  peace  based  in  the  last  analysis 
upon  those  very  Jewish  ideals  which  have 
been  so  loosely  treated  here — the  Fatherhood 
of  God,  the  Brotherhood  of  Man,  Social  Jus- 
tice and  Individual  Righteousness  and  Char- 
ity, and  a  Peace  with  assurance  and  safety  to 
all  nations  and  to  all  men ! 


226          JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 


CHAPTER  V. 

The  Attitude  of  Liberal  Jews 
Toward  Jesus. 

After  our  study  of  these  Jewish  social 
ideals,  let  us  turn  our  attention  to  the  consid- 
erations of  the  attitude  of  the  liberal  Jew 
toward  the  highest  Christian  ideal,  namely 
Jesus.  There  is,  of  course,  no  officially  Jew- 
ish point  of  view  with  regard  to  him,  any 
more  than  there  is  with  regard  to  Paul,  Lu- 
ther or  Wesley.  Official  Judaism  never  took 
notice  of  him  except  insofar  as  the  persecu- 
tions committed  in  his  name,  forced  the  Jew 
to  regard  it  with  dread  as  an  omen  of  ill- 
fortune.  Who  does  not  know  of  the  oceans 
of  blood  spilled  by  his  worshipers,  and  of 
the  terrible  atrocities  committed  under  the 
banner  bearing  his  name?  The  wonder  is 
not  that  Judaism  took  no  official  notice  of 
him ;  rather  it  is  that  amidst  the  thick  dark- 
ness of  ages  gone  by,  libraries  of  anathema 
and  curses  have  not  been  produced  by  the 
Jews. 

2But  times  are  changing,  and  with  them 
views  and  feelings.  If  at  one  time  the  name 
of  Jesus  was  synonymous  with  the  word 
persecution,  his  name  now,  where  thoroughly 
understood,  stands  for  a  Jewishness  much 
misunderstood  by  his  followers.  The  Jew 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS          227 

feels  that  the  story  of  Jesus  and  the  whole 
development  of  Christianity  up  to  the  period 
of  the  American  Revolution  has  been  for  him 
a  tragedy  in  which  Jesus,  not  of  his  own 
will,  was  the  cause,  while  the  Jew  was  the 
innocent  victim.  The  Jew  understands  that 
excepting  the  not  numerous  passages  which 
purport  to  show  the  indignation  and  hate  of 
Jesus  for  his  enemies,  the  general  tenor  of 
his  teachings  follow  the  principle  of  the  rab- 
binic saying,  3"be  ye  of  the  disciples  of  Aaron, 
loving  peace  and  pursuing  it."  It  is  only 
they, — and  unfortunately  they  are  by  far  the 
greatest  in  number, — who  have  never  under- 
stood their  master,  that  hate,  persecute  and 
murder  in  his  name.  The  educated  co-relig- 
ionists of  Jesus — he  never  severed  his  con- 
nection either  with  his  people  or  with  his 
faith — feel  that  he  desired  to  gather  the  scat- 
tered sheep  of  Israel,  in  fulfillment  of  a  dut> 
righteously  conceived  and  sacrificingly  under- 
taken. And  Jesus  was  neither  the  first  Jew 
nor  the  last  to  die  for  what  he  conceived  to  be 
his  duty,  his  truth,  and  his  mission. 

In  discussing  the  attitude  of  Jews  towards 
Jesus,  we  may  consider  him  from  three  points 
of  view,  viz:  as  Jesus  Christ  or  the  Messiah 
of  the  Gospels;  as  the  Son  of  God  and  the 
Redeemer  of  Mankind;  and  lastly,  as  Jesus, 
the  Perfect  or  Sinless  Man  of  liberal  Christi- 
anity. In  reference  to  the  first  point  of  view, 
we  can  get  into  the  depth  of  the  matter  by 


228          JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

simply  considering  the  question,  why  did  not 
the  ancient  Jew  and  why  does  not  the  mod- 
ern Jew  accept  Jesus  as  that  Messiah?  A 
short  study  of  the  messianic  development  in 
Judaism  will  answer. 

The  messianic  idea  among  Jews  had  re- 
ceived a  new  impetus  with  the  publication  of 
the  4Book  of  Daniel  between  167  and  165  be- 
fore the  birth  of  Jesus.  The  sufferings  un- 
der Antiochus  Epiphanes  had  influenced  the 
writer  of  Daniel  to  supplement  the  messian- 
ism  of  the  prophets  with  a  more  virile  and 
realistic  content.  Daniel  prophesied  a  deliv- 
erance from  the  oppression  of  Antiochus ;  the 
saints  of  the  Most  High  were  to  receive  the 
kingdom,  and  all  peoples  and  nations  were 
to  serve  them;  the  righteous  who  had  died, 
were  to  awaken  again  to  participate  in  this 
new  kingdom.  It  was  to  be  ushered  in  by  a 
son  of  man,  a  messiah  who  was  to  come  from 
the  clouds.  A  glorious  future  was  in  store 
for  Israel,  who  was  now  to  become  a  nation 
of  saints.  Daniel  became  the  ground  work 
for  the  other  books  containing  the  messianic 
expectations,  although  here  and  there,  mod- 
ifications of  the  fundamental  ideas  developed. 
60ne  of  these  apocalyptic  visions  stated  that 
after  judgment  upon  the  heathen  would  be 
pronounced,  Israel  would  be  delivered  from 
all  troubles,  regathered,  and  again  established 
as  a  nation  under  the  leadership  of  the  seed 
of  David.  This  latter  idea  is  common  to 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS          229 

nearly  all  the  later  messianic  documents. 
Sometimes  we  find  that  not  only  the  saints 
of  Israel  are  to  be  restored,  but  the  right- 
eous of  all  nations  are  to  be  included  in  the 
messianic  rebirth.  Another  prophecy  states 
that  God  is  to  send  His  messenger  who  will 
put  an  end  to  all  war,  slaying  many,  but  6"the 
people  of  God  will  be  laden  with  wealth  and 
riches;  the  kings  shall,  after  fighting  one 
against  the  other,  unite  and  throw  themselves 
against  the  Temple  and  the  Holy  Land ;  then 
with  a  mighty  voice  God  shall  speak  unto 
the  undisciplined  empty-minded  people  and 
judgment  shall  come  unto  them  and  they  shall 
perish.  The  earth  wiK  shake  at  the  hands  of 
the  Eternal  and  the  souls  of  men  and  the  sea 
will  shudder.  God  will  rend  the  mountains 
and  hills,  and  He  will  judge  with  war  and 
sword,  with  fire  and  cataclysms  of  rain.  And 
they  shall  know  the  immortal  God  who  or- 
dains these  things.  Then  will  the  sons  of 
God  live  quietly  around  the  Temple  rejoicing 
in  the  gift  which  their  Creator  and  Righteous 
Judge  shall  give  them,  for  He  Himself  will  be 
their  champion.  And  God  will  set  up  an 
Eternal  Kingdom  for  all  ages  and  over  all 
men,  and  from  every  land  shall  they  bring 
incense  and  gifts  to  the  House  of  the  Great 
God.  And  wolves  and  lambs  together  shall 
crop  grass  upon  the  mountains,  and  leopards 
shall  feed  with  kids ;  prowling  bears  shall  lie 
with  calves,  beasts  shall  be  incapable  of 


230          JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

harm;  serpents  and  asps  shall  sleep  with 
babes  and  shall  not  harm  them,  for  God's 
hands  shall  be  outstretched  over  them." 

A  number  of  7books  containing  these  ideas 
and  similar  ones,  moulded  public  opinion  after 
the  close  of  the  Old  Testament  and  before  the 
completion  of  the  New.  The  Book  of  Enoch, 
Psalms  of  Solomon,  the  Assumption  of  Moses, 
the  Book  of  Jubilees  and  the  Testaments  of 
the  Twelve  Patriarchs,  the  Apocalypse  of 
Baruch  and  the  Sybilline  Books,  are  among 
those  which  deal  with  and  mention  the  usher- 
ing in  of  the  much  hoped-for  messianic  era 
of  peace,  justice  and  love,  which  was  to  be 
established  in  the  land  of  Israel,  and  par- 
ticularly in  the  City  of  Jerusalem,  the  seat, 
of  the  House  of  the  Only  God.  These  expeo 
tations  became  a  national  possession  and  a 
perennial  hope.  The  most  important  among 
them,  just  before  Jesus,  were  the  coming  of 
the  Messiah  who  was  to  deliver  Israel  from 
the  surrounding  enemies;  the  gathering  of 
Israel  by  this  Messiah ;  the  re-establishment 
of  a  Davidic  dynasty ;  the  bringing  about  of 
eternal  peace,  and  the  religious  predominance 
of  Zion.  Side  by  side  with  these  expectations 
had  grown  up  the  belief  that  just  before  the 
final  redemption  there  would  be  insufferable 
trouble  and  affliction.  Sin,  ungodliness,  mad- 
ness and  war  would  reign,  and  when  these 
would  be  at  their  worst,  the  Messiah  would 
appear,  after  being  announced  by  Elijah,  his 
forerunner. 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS          231 

After  the  fulfillment  of  all  these  expecta- 
tions Israel  was  to  be  a  holy  nation,  sanctified 
by  God,  and  dedicated  to  His  services  and  the 
service  of  mankind.  Israel's  was  to  be  a 
kingdom  of  righteousness  without  wicked- 
ness; justice  tempered  with  mercy  was  to 
be  supreme,  and  peace  was  to  be  everlasting. 
The  Holy  Land  was  to  be  the  home  of  a  king- 
dom of  priests,  an  example  of  civic  righteous- 
ness, political  wisdom  and  social  justice  to 
the  other  peoples  of  the  earth.  8Concerning 
the  Messiah  himself,  there  were  varying 
speculations.  Some  thought  that  he  would  be 
altogether  human,  others  were  not  so  certain ; 
some  thought  he  was  created  even  before 
the  world;  others  thought  differently;  some 
thought  he  would  redeem  only  the  righteous 
Israelites;  others  extended  his  mission  to 
righteous  Gentiles  also;  some  thought  Israel 
alone  would  be  resurrected  by  him,  others 
included  Gentiles  and  their  conversion,  in  the 
resurrection;  there  were  these  and  other 
minor  differences  of  opinion,  but  in  the  main, 
the  ideas  were  in  agreement  with  the  larger 
expectations  pointed  out  above. 

Let  us  now  examine  the  political  condition 
of  the  Jews  at  about  the  time  of  Jesus,  and 
keep  in  mind  at  the  same  time,  these  funda- 
mental ideals  as  they  stirred  their  breasts. 
Ever  since  Pompey  had  been  invited  by  the 
warring  sons  of  Salome  Alexandra  to  adjudi- 
cate their  claims  to  the  crown,  Roman  power 


232          JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  ANI) 

in  Palestine  was  gradually  assuming  the  as- 
cendancy. Never  did  Rome  settle  civil  or 
international  disputes  on  the  ground  of  hu- 
manitarianism.  This  instance  was  no  excep- 
tion. The  dispute  between  Hyrcanus  and 
Aristobulus  gave  Pompey  a  pretense  for  en- 
tering Judea,  and  after  a  three  months'  siege 
and  a  frightful  massacre,  the  Temple  Mount 
fell,  on  the  Day  of  Atonement,  63  before 
Jesus,  and  for  the  first  time  since  the  days 
of  Antiochus,  a  heathen  entered  the  Holy  of 
Holies  and  profaned  it.  With  the  fall  of  the 
Temple,  came  also  the  end  of  the  freedom  of 
the  Jewish  people.  The  leaders  of  the  party 
that  opposed  the  Romans  were  beheaded,  the 
city  and  country  were  made  tributary  to 
Rome,  and  Hyrcanus  was  recognized  as  High 
Priest,  but  not  as  king. 

The  9Roman  governors  who  administered 
the  political  affairs  of  Judea  were  unfriendly 
to  the  Jews,  and  consequently  no  opportunity 
was  overlooked  by  these  for  the  over-throw- 
ing of  the  hateful  yoke.  In  57  before  Jesus, 
Alexander,  the  son  of  Aristobulus  made  an 
attempt  to  regain  a  foothold  with  an  army 
of  more  than  11,000,  but  he  was  defeated 
by  the  Roman  proconsul,  who  at  the  same 
time  took  away  from  Hyranus  what  little 
political  power  he  had  left.  He  was  now  only 
a  High  Priest,  but  to  such  political  depth  had 
Judea  fallen,  that  the  only  thing  left  of  the 
glory  of  the  Maccabean  rulers  was  the  care 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS         233 

Of  the  Temple.    In  56,  and  the  year  following, 
the  sons  of  Aristobulus  again  attempted  to 
wrest  Judea  from  Rome  and  were  again  de- 
feated.   Two  years  later  another  revolt  broke 
out,  and  when  the  Romans  emerged  as  vic- 
tors, 10,000  of  the  party  of  Aristobulus  had 
been  slain.    Between  53  and  51  the  followers 
of  Aristobulus  again  made  an  effort  to  win 
and  this  time  their  leader  was  killed,  and 
30,000  of  his  partisans  were  sold  into  slavery. 
In  a  few  years  thousands  of  Jews  had  suc- 
cumbed to  the  ravages  of  the  wars  against 
Rome.    The  land  was  literally  cut  to  pieces. 
The  Temple  had  been  robbed  several  times, 
and  the  exactions  of  the  Roman  governors 
had  become  intolerable.    If  the  Temple  failed 
to  supply  the  funds  needed,  a  special  tax  was 
levied,  and  if  this  was  not  forthcoming  thou- 
sands were  sold  into  slavery.    The  lot  of  the 
Judeans  became  more  hopeless  and  more  bit- 
ter.    In  49,  Julius  Caesar  became  dictator 
of  Rome.    He  seemed  more  kindly  disposed 
to  the  Jews,  and  especially  favorable  to  Hyr- 
canus  and  to  Antipater,  his  advisor,  an  am- 
bitious and  crafty  Idumean,  who  cherished 
ambitions  for  himself  and  his  sons,  and  there- 
fore encouraged  Hyrcanus  in  his  trouble  with 
Aristobulus.     As   long  as   Caesar  retained 
power,  there  was  a  measure  of  peace  in  Judea. 
But  after  his  death  in  44,  trouble  again  com- 
menced.   Money  was  needed,  and  when  it  did 
not  come  forth  from  tax  levies,  it  came  in 


234          JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

the  form  of  proceeds  from  the  sale  of  slaves. 
The  Jews  were  helpless  before  the  Roman 
terror.  In  the  meantime,  the  sons  of  Aris- 
tobulus  were  not  idle.  The  sufferings  of 
Israel  kept  their  cause  fresh  in  its  memory 
and  followers  were  not  wanting.  Judea  never 
lacked  patriots  who  were  willing  to  die  for  it. 
In  the  year  40  the  Parthians  invaded  Syria, 
and  Antigonus,  the  son  of  Aristobulus,  again 
raised  an  army  and  succeeded  in  gaining  Jeru- 
salem and  proclaiming  himself  king  and  high- 
priest.  His  period  of  supremacy,  however, 
lasted  only  a  short  time,  as  in  the  spring  of 
37,  Herod,  the  son  of  Antipater  and  governor 
of  the  province  of  Galilee,  appeared  at  the 
gates  of  Jerusalem,  and  with  the  help  of 
the  Romans,  took  the  city.  Antigonus  was 
taken  to  Antioch  and  executed,  and  Herod 
became  king,  an  office  to  which  he  had  been 
proclaimed  by  the  Roman  senate  three  years 
before. 

The  ascendancy  of  Herod  gave  to  the  out- 
side world  a  semblance  of  peace  in  Judea. 
But  the  wounds  of  the  last  quarter  of  a  cen- 
tury could  not  be  healed.  Palestine  had  been 
made  desolate  by  contentions,  anarchy,  trib- 
ute and  war.  Its  fields  were  soaked  with 
blood,  and  the  best  of  its  sons  had  been  taken 
away  in  battle.  The  continued  unrest  was 
making  the  Judeans  desperate,  and  the  exac- 
tions of  Rome  completely  sapped  the  once 
wealthy  land.  Yet  to  the  Jewish  mind  it 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS          235 

could  never  be  possible  to  think  that  God  had 
forsaken  His  people.  He  was  their  everlast- 
ing God  even  as  they  were  His  everlasting 
people.  The  prophets  and  psalmists  bore 
witness  to  this,  as  did  many  of  the  later  and 
apocalyptic  writers.  Over  and  over  again 
the  messianic  expectations  welled  up  in  the 
hearts  of  the  hapless  people,  and  as  their 
conditions  grew  darker  the  expectations  of 
the  Messiah  became  more  vivid.  Herod  was 
thoroughly  hated,  though  outwardly  there 
was  an  appearance  of  calm.  Within,  the 
land  was  full  of  sorrow,  and  although  it  pros- 
pered materially,  there  was  a  deeply  growing 
discontent  and  bitterness.  Herod  was  un- 
true to  the  best  Jewish  traditions,  and  disre- 
garded whenever  he  could,  the  teachings  and 
the  faith  of  those  whom  he  ruled.  He  was 
more  than  friendly  to  the  customs  of  Rome- — 
indeed  only  by  such  an  attitude  could  he 
maintain  himself.  Though  supposedly  a  Jew, 
he  had  little  interest  in  the  religion  of  Judea, 
and  though  he  erected  a  magnificent  Temple, 
the  land  was  in  a  spiritual  turmoil.  His  de- 
sire for  renown,  and  his  love  for  vanity  and 
public  display  caused  him  to  build  palaces 
and  cities,  but  the  reputation  he  gained 
abroad  could  not  lessen  the  hatred  he  had 
earned  in  his  own  land.  To  the  hate  and 
distrust  that  the  Jews  had  for  him  whom 
they  regarded  as  a  traitor  and  usurper,  there 
was  added  the  resentment  caused  by  the 
heavy  taxes  and  the  financial  burdens. 


236         JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

The  longer  he  reigned  the  more  deeply  was 
he  despised.  His  interest  in  the  Temple,  its 
service  and  priesthood,  was  regarded  as  hypo- 
critical, and  he  was  looked  upon  as  a  man 
wjiose  hands  had  been  stained  with  the  blood 
of  martyrs;  and  as  it  was  recalled  that 
10David  was  not  permitted  to  build  the  first 
Temple  because  he  had  shed  innocent  blood, 
surely  Herod's  sin  could  not  so  easily  be  for- 
gotten. His  efforts  in  the  direction  of  peace 
and  contentment  in  his  kingdom,  were  frus- 
trated by  his  wish  to  please  Rome  and  the 
Romans,  and  as  the  years  rolled  by,  he  be- 
came aware  of  his  failure  and  then  embit- 
tered by  it.  The  mistrust  within  his  house- 
hold was  as  deep  as  that  without  it,  and  as 
the  truth  of  this  grew  upon  him,  his  frenzy 
knew  no  bounds.  His  own  wife  and  children 
fell  victims  to  his  madness,  and  for  the  Ju- 
deans,  matters  became  as  bad  as  they  possi- 
bly could  get.  But  the  mad  acts  of  the  king 
only  heightened  their  hopes  for  the  final  de- 
liverance. In  4,  before  the  birth  of  Jesus,  the 
old  king,  worn  out  by  madness  and  disease 
went  the  way  of  his  fathers,  hated  by  his 
people  and  unwept  by  those  of  his  own  house 
who  were  left.  His  will  provided  that  his 
son,  Archelaus,  he  made  his  sucessor,  but  be- 
fore Archelaus  had  time  to  leave  Jerusalem 
for  Rome  to  be  confirmed  in  this  office,  a  re- 
bellion against  him  broke  out.  The  people  de- 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS          237 

manded  a  release  from  their  oppressive  tyr- 
anny; a  reduction  of  the  taxes;  the  freedom 
of  many  that  were  imprisoned  by  Herod ;  the 
removal  of  his  high  priest,  and  the  punish- 
ment of  those  who  had  advised  Herod  to  exe- 
cute several  rabbis  who  tore  down  from  the 
Temple  gate,  a  Roman  Eagle  which  had  been 
put  there.  The  answer  of  Archelaus  was  an 
attack  by  his  army,  and  after  the  multitude 
had  dispersed,  3,000  people  were  found 
slaughtered.  Archelaus  then  departed  for 
Rome,  but  before  his  claims  were  settled,  the 
oppression  of  the  procurators  became  so  un- 
bearable, that  a  number  of  rebellions  took 
place  in  different  parts  of  Palestine,  against 
Rome.  The  disorders  were  quieted,  but  in 
Jerusalem  alone  2,000  men  were  crucified  and 
the  Temple  again  robbed.  Archelaus  re- 
turned from  Rome  as  Ethnarch,  but  was  ban- 
ished in  the  year  6  for  political  excesses. 

After  this,  Roman  procurators  whose  cap- 
ital was  Caesarea,  governed  Palestine,  but 
their  periods  of  office  were  short,  unsuccess- 
ful and  cruelly  oppressive.  In  26,  Pontius 
Pilate  became  procurator  of  Judea.  Pilate 
cared  even  less  for  the  feelings  of  his  sub- 
jects than  did  his  predecessors.  A  test  of  his 
disregard  for  the  feelings  of  the  people  whom 
he  governed  came  when  he  asked  them  to 
pay  homage  to  the  Roman  emblems,  and  upon 
their  refusal,  threatened  to  have  them  killed. 
When  he  saw  that  they  preferred  to  give  up 


238  JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

their  lives  rather  than  their  religion,  he  re^- 
moved  the  cause  of  the  trouble.  Later  he 
made  some  improvements  near  Jerusalem, 
but  robbed  the  Temple  of  some  of  its  treas- 
ures to  pay  for  them.  When  the  people  pro- 
tested he  ordered  some  of  his  soldiers  to  dis- 
guise themselves  as  Judeans,  mingle  with  the 
crowds  and  attack  them.  Many  were  thus 
killed  and  wounded;  and  Roman  oppression 
grew  worse. 

The  Judeans  were  kept  in  constant  fear  of 
Pilate's  plans  and  acts  which  became  more 
unbearable  day  by  day.  He  seemed  to  have 
full  sway  and  there  was  no  appeal  from  his 
barbarity.  The  cowardice  of  the  Judean  aris- 
tocracy, the  corruption  of  the  high  priests 
and  the  seeming  hopelessness  of  the  whole 
situation,  increased  the  hopes  for  a  Messiah 
to  such  an  extent  that  any  superiorly  gifted 
man  could  have  found  followers  if  he  but  an- 
nounced himself  as  the  Chosen  One.  Indeed 
even  before  the  coming  of  Pilate,  pseudo- 
saviors  had  already  appeared;  and  during 
this  period  of  oppression  no  fewer  than  six 
important  rebellions  were  started  by  men 
who  believed  themselves  messiahs.  Thou- 
sands of  lives  were  lost  in  these  worthy  at- 
tempts to  free  Israel  from  Roman  tyranny. 
Indeed  to  initiate  the  Kingdom  of  God  became 
the  obsession  of  many  religious  Jews  and  the 
indwelling  ambition  of  the  great  and  popular 
leaders11. 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS          239 

About  this  time  Jesus  of  Nazareth  appear- 
ed. He  was  a  young  man  whose  antecedents 
were  unknown  except  in  the  city  of  his  birth, 
where  his  father  was  a  carpenter  and  spent 
his  time  at  his  trade.  12The  family  had  no 
special  distinction,  and  the  feeble  efforts  of 
the  Gospels  to  give  Jesus  Davidic  ancestry 
have  been  largely  discredited  by  scholars.  If 
the  mortal  father  of  Jesus  had  been  a  de- 
scendant of  David,  something  of  honor  and 
prestige  would  have  been  attached  to  the 
family.  We  might  also  add,  that  in  view  of 
the  part  assigned  in  the  Gospels  to  Joseph 
and  adopted  by  Orthodox  Christianity,  the 
alleged  Davidic  descent  of  Jesus  can  not  be 
considered.  For  according  to  Jewish  custom 
the  fact  that  Mary  might  have  been  descend- 
ed from  David  would  not  make  any  difference, 
as  descent  counts  on  the  side  of  the  father, 
not  that  of  the  mother.  Jesus  grew  to  man- 
hood in  Galilee  and  there  he  must  have  inher- 
ited those  characteristics  which  distinguished 
the  Galilean  commoner  from  the  cultured  Ju- 
dean.  If  Jesus  were  expert  in  the  knowledge 
and  practice  of  Judaism,  it  is  not  probable 
that  he  obtained  such  knowledge  in  Galilee,  as 
we  have  no  record  of  any  of  the  greater 
teachers  living  there  during  the  time  of 
Jesus;  nor  do  we  know  of  any  important 
school  in  his  native  province  at  this  time. 
Jesus  might  have  known  more  when  he  left 
home  than  the  ordinary  Jew  of  Galilee,  where 


240          JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

the  possibilities  of  becoming  a  student  under 
proper  guidance  were  very  limited.  But 
these  external  disadvantages  did  not  deprive 
Jesus — and  others  for  that  matter — from 
having  individuality  and  character,  and  in 
these,  rather  than  in  learning,  does  the  im- 
portance of  Jesus  lie. 

When  near  the  age  of  thirty — the  authori- 
ties are  not  agreed — Jesus  set  out  for  the 
heart  of  Judea.  There  is  no  need  to  discuss 
here  the  question  as  to  whether  or  not  he 
had  messianic  aspirations  at  this  time.  But 
he  had  a  task,  and  the  fulfilment  of  this  he 
set  before  himself.  For  this  purpose  he  left 
his  parental  roof  and  the  city  of  his  birth,  if 
the  records  be  historical.  In  his  heart,  as  in 
the  hearts  of  John  of  Giscala,  Hezekiah  the 
Zealot  and  similar  patriots,  a  fire  of  deep  loy- 
alty to  Israel  and  his  faith,  was  burning. 
Jesus  felt  that  he  but  needed  to  communicate 
this  to  the  lost  sheep.  The  stirring  events  of 
the  last  fifty  years  and  the  virile  part  played 
in  them  by  Galileans  who  had  more  than 
once  set  the  spirit  of  Jewish  patriotism  ablaze 
with  their  enthusiasm,  must  have  been  known 
to  this  man  who  possessed  native  zeal  and 
deep  loyalty,  and  they  must  have  served  as 
inspiring  precedents  for  him.  And  thus  this 
young  man  full  of  hope  and  energy  and  fired 
by  the  faith  of  his  fathers,  set  out  to  give 
the  message  that  had  come  to  him  in  Galilee 
to  the  larger  Jewish  world  in  Judea.  Was  he 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS          241 

cognizant  of  the  great  difference  between  the 
men  of  his  native  province  and  those  of  Ju- 
dea?  Did  he  appreciate  the  great  gulf  that 
lay  between  the  untutored  Galileans  and  the 
more  highly  cultured  Judeans,  especially  in 
Jerusalem  ?  Could  the  youthful  champion  of 
Israel's  salvation  understand  the  practical 
difficulties  which  he  would  have  to  encounter 
before  he  could  popularize  his  message  of  re- 
pentance in  preparation  for  the  kingdom 
which  he  thought  was  about  to  come? 

There  is  no  doubt  that  the  life  of  Jesus  in 
Nazareth  had  been  altogether  too  circum- 
scribed to  have  given  him  an  adequate  idea 
of  the  conditions  of  his  people  as  they  existed 
in  Judea.  He  had  doubtless  heard  of  them, 
otherwise  he  would  not  have  gone  there ;  but 
he  could  not  have  known  them  intimately. 
He  came  to  Jerusalem,  a  son  of  a  small  city ; 
he  did  not  seem  to  understand  that  the  stand- 
ards of  a  small  town  could  not  well  be  applied 
to  the  life  of  a  great  city.  Judea  was  as 
different  from  Galilee  as  was  Jerusalem 
Jewry  from  the  Jewry  of  Nazareth.  And 
even  in  his  own  province  the  success  of  Jesus 
was  questionable.  The  simplicity  which 
Jesus  hoped  for,  he  found  absent  in  Jeru- 
salem. He  could  not  brook  the  extravagance 
of  the  aristocracy  or  the  impiety  of  the  priest- 
hood. The  rich  were  abhorrent  to  him  and 
poverty  was  almost  synonymous  with  piety. 
He  came  from  a  land  where  learning  was  at  a 


242          JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

low  ebb,  while  here  in  Jerusalem,  he  met  with 
a  wealth  of  argumentation,  learning  and  rea- 
soning. The  extravagance  of  learning  seemed 
as  distasteful  to  him  as  the  extravagance  of 
wealth,  and  both  of  these  he  set  about  to 
correct.  The  result  that  took  place  was  in- 
evitable. Success  was  not  on  his  side.  Com- 
ing with  high  hopes  to  regather  the  lost  sheep 
of  the  House  of  Israel,  he  found  that  many 
of  these  sheep  did  not  consider  themselves 
lost ;  and  many  which  he  thought  lost  did  not 
want  his  ministrations.  The  illustrious  were 
not  with  him,  for  he  did  not  possess  the  power 
to  attach  them  to  himself,  as  did  Bar  Cochba, 
later.  The  learned  were  not  with  him  be- 
cause he  did  not  possess  enough  learning  to 
inspire  them.  The  ordinarily  pious  were  not 
with  him,  for  he  offered  them  no  new  wisdom, 
no  new  ethical  motive,  nothing  that  they  had 
not  had  or  heard;  and  those  who  believed 
themselves  righteous — and  because  they  be- 
lieved themselves  so,  does  not  necessarily 
make  them  self-righteous  or  unrighteous — 
they  were  not  with  him,  because  he  had  no 
new  message  for  them,  and  their  almost  daily 
contact  with  the  scribes,  teachers,  sages  and 
preachers,  reminded  them  of  their  short- 
comings. The  Pharisees  certainly  found  in 
him  little  that  was  unknown  before,  and  could 
at  best  look  upon  him  as  an  enthusiastic 
preacher;  and  the  Sadducees  and  the  priests 
were  not  looking  for  any  new  reproofs  or 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS          243 

sources  of  reproofs;  they  had  enough.  Nor 
must  it  be  thought,  as  it  generally  is,  that 
Jesus  condemned  all  the  Pharisees.  He  did 
condemn  the  hypocritical  ones ;  but  for  these 
to  attach  themselves  to  him  would  have  been 
an  open  admission  of  guflt.  The  people  to 
whom  Jesus  could  and  did  appeal  were  indeed 
the  lost  sheep  of  the  house  of  Israel,  the  sin- 
ners who  were  thought  to  be  beyond  redemp- 
tion, the  publicans  who  were  thought  un- 
worthy of  respectable  association  in  this 
world  and  unworthy  of  inheriting  the  world 
to  come;  and  the  fallen  women  for  whose 
rescue  and  salvation  none  seemed  to  care. 
And  here  Jesus  found  and  accomplished  his 
work — here  among  the  ignorant,  the  lowly 
and  the  outcast.  And  here  it  was  that  Jesus 
did  something  original  and  unique,  so  far  as 
we  are  able  to  ascertain.  The  originality  of 
Jesus  does  not  lie  in  his  precepts,  in  his  teach- 
ings or  method  of  preaching.  But  it  does  lie 
in  this  attitude  towards  those  whom  others 
chose  to  neglect.  To  us,  social  regeneration 
of  men  and  women  in  the  lowest  depths  is  a 
commendable  and  natural  thing  for  those 
who  are  adapted  to  that  kind  of  work;  but 
in  his  day,  the  social  sense  had  not  advanced 
so  far  and  tho  there  is  a  rabbinical  proverb 
which  says  that,  "altho  one  has  sinned  he  is 
still  an  Israelite,"  and  therefore  entitled  to 
the  advantages  of  Judaism  and  the  com- 
munity, yet  it  remained  for  Jesus  to  set  the 


244          JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

great  example  of  seeking  those  whom  others 
left  to  their  own  miserable  fate.  And  this 
to  our  mind  is  the  grandest  aspect  of  the 
ministry  of  Jesus.  But  let  us  not  forget  that 
so  far  as  the  popular  messianic  expectations 
were  concerned,  ministering  to  the  sinful  as 
Jesus  did,  was  not  one  of  them. 

And  thus  Jesus  went  about  teaching, 
preaching,  ministering  and  gathering  disci- 
ples about  him.  If  he  was  pre-eminently  suc- 
cessful, the  records  fail  to  state  it.  We  mean 
of  course  the  records  outside  of  the  New  Tes- 
tament. There  is  not  even  historical  mention 
of  Jesus  himself.  But  we  may  cast  this  aside 
in  the  consideration  of  the  messianic  fulfil- 
ment, on  the  ground  of  Jewish  partisanship. 
We  may  grant  that  as  the  Jews  did  not  ac- 
cept him  as  their  messiah,  they  left  out  all 
mention  of  him  and  his  messiahship  every- 
where, which  is  of  course  an  almost  impossi- 
ble thing.  His  name  does  occur  in  the  Talmud. 

We  have  before,  during  and  after  the  ad- 
vent of  Jesus  this  situation:  The  tyranny 
of  Rome  has  struck  terror  into  the  hearts  of 
the  Jews.  The  priesthood  has  become  cor- 
rupt, and  the  Sadduceans  have  become  dis- 
loyal. The  very  air  seems  to  breathe  hope- 
lessness and  terror.  There  is  not  a  peaceful 
moment  in  the  land.  Its  independence  has 
been  lost,  and  its  glory  has  departed.  Even 
the  Temple  is  not  safe  from  Roman  desecra- 
tion. Every  now  and  then  comes  news  of  a 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS          245 

new  rebellion,  and  more  disaster  and  more 
bloodshed.  God  seems  to  have  forsaken  His 
people  and  forgotten  His  promise  to  them. 
On  the  other  hand,  Israel  cannot  believe  that 
his  God  has  abandoned  it,  and  out  of  the 
very  hopelessness  of  the  situation  messianic 
hopes  are  born.  The  messiah  must  soon  ap- 
pear, for  out  of  the  darkness  of  despair  comes 
the  hope  of  the  new  light.  Not  only  had  he 
been  promised  and  expected,  but  the  condi- 
tions are  now  about  to  be  fulfilled.  It  is  true 
that  there  is  no  absolute  unanimity  about  the 
matter.  Some  mystics  say  that  the  redeemer 
is  to  appear  upon  the  clouds  from  heaven, 
where  he  has  been  since  a  time  which  ante- 
dates the  creation  of  the  world.  Some  ra- 
tionalists say  that  he  is  to  be  descended  from 
the  House  of  David,  and  will  be  born  of  wom- 
an. Some  say  that  he  is  to  be  a  warrior  who 
will  break  the  power  of  the  nations,  forever 
throw  off  the  yoke  of  Rome,  regather  Israel 
from  the  four  corners  of  the  earth,  and  re- 
establish the  commonwealth  in  all  its  glory. 
And  others  say  that  he  is  to  be  a  prince  of 
peace  who  after  a  great  war,  will  usher  in  a 
period  of  social  justice  and  social  love,  which 
will  make  of  this  earth,  a  very  Kingdom  of 
Heaven.  But  whatever  the  minute  differ- 
ences be,  the  messianic  expectations  are  rife. 
Still  misfortune  after  misfortune  follows. 
The  real  messiah  has  not  appeared  though 
several  have  announced  themselves  as  sav- 


246          JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

iours,  have  started  rebellions  and  have  lost 
out.  Now  there  appears  one  who  has  come 
not  as  an  avowed  messiah,  but  as  a  teacher 
of  ethics  and  baptism  in  preparation  for  the 
coming  of  the  Kingdom.  He  teaches  those 
who  will  be  taught,  and  as  he  gathers 
strength,  both  in  purpose  and  energy,  and  in 
number  of  followers,  he  develops  the  messi- 
anic consciousness.  He  hints  that  he  is  the 
messiah,  and  his  disciples  wonder.  They  can- 
not understand  it,  for  he  came  to  them  not 
as  a  messiah  but  as  a  religious  teacher,  a  fish- 
er for  the  souls  of  men.  Nor  do  his  conditions 
of  fulfilment  seem  to  be  propitious.  Israel  is 
not  being  gathered  from  the  ends  of  the 
earth:  Rome  is  still  the  oppressive  tyrant; 
Jerusalem  has  no  peace;  Pilate  is  still  the 
offensive  Roman  hater  of  everything  Jewish 
and  yet  this  messiah  does  not  even  exert  him- 
self for  the  political  emancipation  of  his  peo- 
ple. In  truth,  this  Jesus  cannot  be  the  mes- 
siah, for  if  the  messiah  idea  meant  anything 
at  all,  it  signified  the  ushering  in  of  a  com- 
pletely changed  order.  This,  of  course,  did 
not  happen.  Jesus  attracted  the  attention  of 
the  priesthood,  was  arrested,  tried  and  found 
to  belong  to  that  same  class  of  pseudo- 
saviors  that  had  been  giving  Rome  so  much 
trouble.  He  was  asked  by  Pilate  whether  he 
is  the  king  of  the  Jews,  and  answered,  "thou 
sayest  it."  He  is,  as  was  to  be  expected,  exe- 
cuted, for  the  Emperor  of  Rome  alone  was  at 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS          247 

this  time  king  of  the  Jews.  Still  the  mes- 
sianic expectations  are  not  realized.  Jesus 
makes  some  predictions  concerning  himself, 
but  they  are  alleged  to  have  been  fulfilled  only 
to  a  select  few,  and  concerning  even  these 
there  is  a  disagreement.  Israel's  misery  con- 
tinues. Rome  is  still  the  murderous  master 
of  Judea.  In  view  of  this  complete  failure  of 
the  realization  of  the  messianic  expectations, 
the  Jews  of  Jesus's  day  could  not  accept  his 
messiahship.  They  did  not,  and  their  de- 
scendants cannot,  for  the  same  reason  that 
they  had,  accept  him  as  the  messiah. 

Aside  from  his  non-fulfilment  of  the  mes- 
sianic ideals,  the  later  New  Testament  idea 
of  Jesus  as  the  lamb  and  blood  sacrifice  had 
absolutely  no  place  either  in  the  general 
teachings  of  Judaism  or  the  messianic  teach- 
ings. Nor  did  this  idea  play  any  part  in  the 
messianic  consciousness  of  either  Jesus  or  his 
immediate  followers. 

According  to  the  thought  of  his  days,  and 
according  to  the  Judaism  of  today,  Jesus  does 
not  present  one  single  phase  in  his  life  which 
can  be  regarded  as  a  unique  fulfilment  of  the 
messianic  expectations.  That  he  was  a  teach- 
er, no  one  will  dispute.  That  he  was  a  fine 
product  of  ethical  Judaism,  no  one  can  deny. 
That  he  was  a  self-sacrificing,  loyal  enthus- 
iast for  his  people,  all  will  admit;  that  he 
holds  a  unique  place  in  the  uplift  work  for  the 
outcast  of  society,  all  will  agree ;  that  he  was 


248          JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

a  striking  preacher  and  preached  ofttimes  m 
striking  form,  all  will  grant.  But  that  he 
was  the  messiah  of  the  immediate  expecta- 
tions, or  that  he  was  the  messiah  of  the  Bible 
or  the  apocalyptic  literature,  or  that  he  was  a 
necessary  sacrifice  for  the  sins  of  mankind, 
and  thus  the  spiritual  messiah — all  this  is  so 
far  from  historical  fact,  that  the  Jew  will 
never  accept  it  as  truth,  even  as  the  liberal 
Christian  has  rejected  it  as  truth.  And  it 
seems  to  us  that  none  could  accept  it  as  a  fact 
if  the  messianic-biblical  prophecies  concern- 
ing universal  peace,  harmony  among  men  and 
beasts,  and  the  reign  of  justice  and  mercy 
and  everlasting  peace  so  fondly  dreamt  of 
both  in  the  Bibte  and  the  later  literature — 
the  very  basis  and  ground  of  messianic  ex- 
pectations— were  known  and  considered. 
Whatever  else  Jesus  was,  he  was  not  the  pre- 
dicted and  expected  Messiah  of  Israel. 

Let  us  consider  the  attitude  of  the  Jews 
towards  the  Jesus,  the  Son  of  God,  or  the  ec- 
clesiastical Jesus  Christ.  This  Christological 
conception  is  based  upon  the  Pauline  specula- 
tion, largely,  and  was  developed  by  the  early 
church  until  it  became  the  distinguishing 
mark  of  Christianity,  and  still  remains  such. 
We  need  here  concern  ourselves  particularly 
with  the  second  article  of  the  Apostolic  Creed, 
or  that  of  the  Nicene,  which  is  later  and  more 
authentic,  but  which  does  not  differ  in  es- 
sence from  the  other.  For  the  sake  of  clear- 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS         240 

ness,  we  give  them  both:  18"I  believe  *  *  *  in 
Christ  Jesus,  His  only  Son,  our  Lord,  who 
was  born  of  the  Holy  Ghost  and  the  Virgin 
Mary,  crucified  under  Pontius  Pilate  and 
buried,  the  third  day  he  rose  from  the  dead, 
he  ascended  into  heaven,  sitteth  at  the  right 
hand  of  the  Father,  thence  he  shall  come  to 
judge  the  living  and  the  dead."  The  second 
article  of  the  Nicene  Creed  runs  thus:  "We 
believe  *  *  *  in  one  Lord,  Jesus  Christ,  the 
Son  of  God,  begotten  of  the  Father,  only- 
begotten,  that  is,  of  the  substance  of  the 
Father,  God  of  God,  Light  of  Light,  very  God 
of  very  God,  begotten  not  made  of  the  sub- 
stance with  the  Father,  by  whom  all  things 
are  made,  both  those  in  heaven  and  those  on 
earth,  who  for  us  men  and  for  our  salvation 
came  down  and  was  made  flesh,  and  lived  as 
man  among^  men,  suffered  and  rose  the  third 
day,  ascended  into  heaven,  is  coming  to  judge 
the  quick  and  the  dead/'  The  creed  of  the 
Apostles  is  the  creed  of  the  evangelical 
churches,  while  the  Nicene  is  still  used  in  the 
Catholic  confession. 

The  creeds  are  so  plain  that  it  is  unneces- 
sary to  analyze  them.  But  their  provisions 
run  absolutely  counter  to  the  teachings  of 
Judaism — they  are  opposed  to  its  very  genius. 
From  the  time  that  the  second  commandment 
became  the  theological  standard  of  Judaism 
until  this  very  day,  the  Unity  of  God  and  His 
uniqueness,  forms  the  fundamental  dogma  in 


250          JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

Judaism.  It  is  in  fact  agreed,  that  this  is  the 
only  dogma  in  Judaism.  Among  the  profes- 
sing Jews  today,  the  words  of  Deuteronomy, 
"Hear  0  Israel,  the  Lord  our  God,  the  Lord  is 
One,"  has  become  the  distinguishing  doctrine 
as  well  as  belief.  We  need  not  here  go  into 
the  possibilities  of  the  translations  of  the 
original  Hebrew.  The  fact  is  that  the  cur- 
rent of  Judaism  has  determined  the  transla- 
tion of  this  sentence  in  accordance  with  its 
genius,  and  Israel  today  believes  as  it  did  at 
the  time  of  the  rise  of  Paulinism,  that  there 
is  nothing  comparable  or  equal.  The  second 
commandment  whose  contents  the  Jews  ac- 
cept today  as  well  as  their  ancestors  did,  is 
the  bar  that  keeps  a  Jew  from  being  able  to 
conceive  anything  that  is  like  God ;  and  least 
of  all  any  human  being  endowed  with  the 
qualities  of  God.  Their  understanding  of  the 
second  commandment,  reinforced  by  the  verse 
quoted  above,  absolutely  precludes  any  possi- 
bility of  any  phenomenon  such  as  a  physical 
and  unique  sonship-co-equal  with  God,  very 
God  of  very  God,  etc.  Nor  can  the  Jewish 
mind  conceive  of  its  God  dividing  himself,  or 
incarnating  himself  in  the  person  of  a  Jesus 
Christ,  an  only  son,  or  anyone  else.  We  rea- 
son that  if  God  becomes  man,  he  is  human 
and  not  God;  and  we  maintain,  that  while 
God  is  omnipotent,  He  cannot  transgress  His 
own  laws  of  nature ;  He  cannot  even  by  a 
divine  fiat  beget  Himself,  or  incarnate  Him- 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS          251 

self.  He  is,  always  was  and  ever  will  be  a 
spiritual  Being,  eternal,  invisible,  omnipotent 
and  indivisible.  He  is  God,  and  there  is  none 
besides  Him  nor  to  be  compared  with  Him. 
He  is  the  divine  energy,  the  Creator  and 
Ruler  of  the  Universe,  whose  spirit  creates, 
ordains  and  gives  life;  He  is  the  One  God, 
and  no  one  shares  His  power  with  Him;  He 
is  unchangeable,  and  will  last  unto  all  eter- 
nity. He  is  merciful  and  gracious,  and  abun- 
dant in  goodness  and  truth,  and  He  judges 
the  world  in  righteousness.  He  alone  is  di- 
vine, none  shares  His  divinity  with  Him,  and 
He  alone  is  to  be  worshiped.  He  is  the  first 
and  He  is  the  last,  and  there  is  no  God  besides 
Him.  He  is  not  a  multiplex  God,  nor  is  He 
capable  of  being  divided. 

The  essence  of  the  Jewish  faith  from  the 
time  of  the  return  from  the  Babylonian  exile 
to  this  very  day  has  been  ethico-monotheistic, 
and  nothing  short  of  a  pure  monotheism  can 
be  held  by  Judaism  today.  The  Jewish  idea 
of  God  is  nothing  if  not  monotheistic,  and  any 
dogma  tending  against  this  is  opposed  to  the 
thought  of  Judaism.  So  far  as  the  belief  in 
Jesus  as  an  incarnation  of  God  is  concerned, 
no  professing  Jew  could  proclaim  it,  either 
during  the  life  of  Paul,  or  at  any  time  since 
then.  The  Jew  cannot  grasp  a  God  of  the 
Universe  and  at  the  same  time  think  of  an- 
other, a  "son  of  God,  that  is  of  the  substance 
of  the  Father,  God  of  God,  Light  of  Light, 


252          JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

very  God  of  God,  begotten,  not  made,  of  the 
substance  with  the  Father."  If  God  is  unique 
there  is  nothing  like  Him;  if  there  are  two 
objects,  co-substantial,  then  there  are  two 
gods — altogether  unthinkable  to  Jews;  if 
Jesus  was  part  human  and  part  divine,  there 
is  the  old  controversy  of  two  souls,  two  wills 
and  two  natures — one  divine  and  one  Imman, 
in  the  same  human  or  divine  being — also 
unthinkable  to  the  Jew.  The  Jew  has  not, 
cannot  and  will  not  accept  the  Christology  of 
the  church  because  it  is  contrary  to  the 
genius  and  teaching  of  his  faith,  his  imagina- 
tion, his  reason,  and  his  experience. 

If  Jesus  was  not  divine,  he  is  not  worthy  of 
worship  and  adoration.  Here,  too,  the  second 
commandment  is  basic  to  all  Jewish  thought 
on  this  particular  point.  God  alone  is  worthy 
of  worship  and  while  human  beings  are  de- 
serving of  respect,  our  prayers  are  directed 
to  the  Almighty.  14"There  was  a  time  when 
Judaism  had  developed  a  rich  angelology  and 
demonology.  But  after  all,  angels  and  demons 
belonged  more  to  the  folk-religion,  and  were 
easily  and  resolutely  brushed  aside,  as  soon 
as  it  became  apparent  that  they  might  be- 
come dangerous  to  the  monotheistic  idea." 
Prof.  Schechter  has  summed  the  matter  up 
thus:  15" Amidst  all  these  embarrassments, 
contradictions,  confusions,  abberations,  how- 
ever, the  great  principle  of  the  synagogue 
that  worship  is  due  only  to  God,  remained 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS          253 

untouched.  Into  the  liturgy  none  of  the 
stranger  appellations  of  God  were  admitted. 
'When  a  man  is  in  distress/  says  R.  Judah, 
'he  does  not  first  call  upon  his  patron,  but 
seeks  admittance  to  him  through  the  medium 
of  his  servant  or  his  agent ;  but  it  is  different 
with  God.  Let  no  man  in  misfortune  cry 
either  unto  Michael  or  Gabriel,  but  pray  unto 
me  (God)  and  I  will  answer  him  at  once,  as 
it  is  said,  'Whoever  shall  call  on  the  name 
of  the  Lord  shall  be  delivered/  'Come  and 
see/  says  another  rabbi,  'that  in  the  portions 
of  the  Scriptures  treating  of  sacrifices,  no 
other  name  of  God  is  ever  used  than  the 
Tetragrammaton.  This  is  done  so  as  not  to 
give  room  for  heretical  interpretations  which 
might  claim  divine  worship  for  some  other 
being.  *  *  *  At  a  certain  period  in  history, 
when  the  heresy  of  the  new  sects  was  threat- 
ening to  effect  larger  classes,  the  rabbis  even 
enforced  the  utterance  of  the  Tetragramma- 
ton in  very  benediction,  lest  there  should  be 
some  misunderstanding  to  whom  prayer  is 
directed." 

With  the  incarnation  and  Christ-worship 
ideas  disposed  of,  the  other  Christological 
dogmas  must  fall  of  themselves.  Since  God 
is  the  only  saviour  and  redeemer,  none  else  is 
necessary.  Therefore  Jesus  cannot  be  recog- 
nized as  the  divine  redeemer.  And  in  the  last 
analysis,  according  to  the  best  Jewish 
thought,  every  man  has  within  him  the  possi- 


254          JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

bility  of  his  own  redemption,  and  thereby 
may  become  his  own  redeemer.  With  regard 
to  the  idea  that  Jesus,  as  the  messiah,  judges 
the  quick  and  dead,  Judaism  teaches  that  God 
alone  is  the  supreme  judge  in  this  world  and 
the  world  to  come.  The  virgin  birth  of  Jesus 
finds  no  credibility  among  Jews  because  the 
phenomenon  of  conception  by  the  Holy  Spirit 
without  the  intervention  of  a  human  father 
is  inconceivable  and  contrary  to  every  record 
of  human  experience,  and  the  Jew  prefers  to 
be  guided  by  the  universal  fact  of  the  neces- 
sity of  the  male  in  procreation.  As  for  the 
dogma  of  the  Immaculate  Conception,  pro- 
mulgated only  as  late  as  1854,  and  declaring 
that  the  doctrine  which  holds  the  blessed 
Virgin  Mary  from  the  first  instant  of  her  con- 
ception to  have  kept  free  from  all  stain  of 
original  sin,  by  the  singular  grace  and  privi- 
lege of  Almighty  God,  in  view  of  the  merits  of 
Jesus  Christ,  the  Saviour  of  mankind,  as  re- 
vealed by  God,  and  therefore  firmly  and  con- 
stantly to  be  believed  by  all  the  faithful,  this 
is  of  course  outside  of  the  pale  of  credibility 
of  Jews  and  Judaism,  as  it  is  without  the 
sphere  of  belief  among  the  Protestant  Chris- 
tians. The  whole  fabric  of  the  virginity  of 
Mary  and  the  conception  of  Jesus,  is  based 
upon  the  misinterpretation  of  the  little  He- 
brew word  which  means  16"young  woman" 
rather  than  "virgin."  And  the  matter  is  sim- 
ply a  theological  construction  in  order  to 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS          255 

make  the  birth  of  Jesus  tally  with  the  mis- 
understood prophetic  text  which  speaks  of  a 
messiah.  The  conception  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
finds  neither  any  warrant  for  belief  within 
Judaism,  nor  any  reason  for  its  acceptance 
outside  of  Judaism.  The  Jews  do  believe  in 
the  Spirit  of  God,  or  the  Schechinah,  but  their 
presentation  of  it  makes  it  impossible  of 
being  the  means  of  producing  a  condition  of 
17"being  with  child." 

The  Jew  then,  cannot  accept  the  Christ  of 
the  church,  because  the  ecclesiastical  concep- 
tion of  Jesus  conflicts  with  the  pure  monothe- 
ism which  is  the  fundamental  characteristic 
of  Judaism,  and  for  which  Judaism  must  ever 
stand  so  long  as  its  development  travels  in 
the  path  determined  by  its  history  and  tradi- 
tions. 

We  have  still  to  consider  the  Ideal  Man, 
Jesus,  of  the  liberal  Christian  theology.  Vol- 
umes have  been  written  upon  this  theme  by 
those  who  have  disengaged  themselves  from 
the  ecclesiastical  point  of  view  and  from  the 
creeds,  and  have  adjudged  Jesus  as  a  histori- 
cal personage,  in  accordance  with  the  histori- 
cal development  of  the  gospels.  The  newer 
Christianity  has  shifted  its  basis  from  the 
dogmas  of  the  Son  and  the  Christology  of 
Paul,  to  the  doctrines  of  the  Ideal  Man,  a  shift 
which  is  in  line  with  the  historical  and  scien- 
tific judgment  of  the  learning  of  the  last  half 
century.  Men  have  come  to  recognize  that 


JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 


the  theological  problems  of  the  church  were 
unsolvable,  and  that  unless  a  change  of  em- 
phasis took  place,  Christianity  would  have  to 
succumb.  And  so  liberal  Christianity  has 
turned,  not  to  the  possibilities  of  the  force  of 
old  Christian  dogmas,  but  to  the  possibilities 
of  the  influence  of  the  ethics  of  Jesus  and  his 
purported  perfect  character.  And  they  have 
judged  therefore  that  in  the  power  of  the 
personality  of  Jesus  lies  the  salvation  of 
Christianity  and  the  church.  He  is,  according 
to  this  newer  conception,  the  son  of  God,  not 
in  the  substance,  but  in  his  nearness  to  God, 
in  his  understanding  of  the  purposes  of  God, 
and  in  the  perfection  of  his  life  and  character. 
He  is  the  one  perfect  man,  who  is  to  save 
mankind  not  by  his  death  and  resurrection, 
but  by  his  life  and  precept. 

With  respect  to  the  perfection  of  Jesus,  the 
Jew  believes  with  Ecclesiastes,  18that  no  man 
is  so  righteous  upon  earth  that  he  should  do 
always  good  and  never  sin.  As  the  Jew  re- 
gards Jesus  as  a  man,  human  standards  must 
be  applied  to  him.  Does  Christian  perfection 
as  applied  to  Jesus  cover  his  whole  life  or  only 
the  few  years  of  his  public  ministry?  As  a 
matter  of  fact  do  we  know  enough  about  the 
years  previous  to  that  to  say  that  he  was 
either  perfect  or  sinful?  Is  not  his  whole 
early  life  a  blank  so  far  as  authentic  records 
are  concerned?  Or  are  we  to  judge  of  his 
perfection  by  the  legends  concerning  his 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS          257 

youth  which  have  crept  into  Christian  tradi- 
tion? Moreover,  is  it  consonant  with  the 
spirit  of  historical  criticism,  to  ascribe  per- 
fection to  Jesus,  on  the  basis  of  writings 
alleged  to  be  his,  and  whose  historicity  and 
authenticity  have  themselves  to  be  assumed, 
and  which  mention  only  some  of  the  things 
he  said  and  did,  and  do  not  give  us  a  complete 
and  authoritative  record  of  everything  that 
he  did  ?  We  may  say  that  he  was  perfect  be- 
cause the  records  do  not  mention  anything 
which  Christianity  deems  sinful;  but  is  this 
argument  from  silence  critically  sound  ?  And 
as  a  matter  of  fact,  is  this  statement  true? 

Again,  is  Jesus  sinless  and  perfect  because 
the  gospels  attempt  to  make  him  so,  or  do 
the  gospels  picture  him  just  as  he  was?  In 
other  words,  does  the  career  of  Jesus  fit  the 
gospels,  or  are  the  gospels  made  to  fit  the 
career  of  Jesus ?  To  be  still  more  explicit:  Is 
the  conception  of  the  sinlessness  of  Jesus 
based  upon  the  evidence  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment, or  is  the  evidence  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment made  to  fit  the  conception  of  the  sin- 
lessness of  Jesus? 

Ideas  as  to  just  what  constitutes  sinless- 
ness  or  perfection  may  vary.  To  our  minds 
there  are  several  instances  recorded  which 
by  no  means  confirm  the  Christian  concep- 
tion of  the  ideal  and  sinless  Jesus.  We  be- 
lieve that  the  driving  into  the  sea  of  the  herd 
of  2,00019  pigs  which  were  not  the  property 


258          JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

of  Jesus,  was  not  right.  No  matter  what 
the  motive  of  Jesus  was,  the  owner's  point  of 
view  ought  to  have  had  some  consideration. 
Or  were  they  ownerless  wild  boars  ?  The  at- 
tempted cleansing  of  the  Temple  by  throwing 
out  the  money  changers,20  though  the  money 
changing  stalls  were  an  old  established  and 
sanctioned  institution  in  the  Temple  Court, 
may  have  had  another  aspect  to  it.  The  fact 
that  Jesus  thought  them  evil  need  not  have 
made  them  so.  One  may  say  that  these 
things  were  proper  because  Jesus  did  them, 
indeed  the  Christian  world  accepts  them  as 
proper  for  just  this  reason.  But  is  this  logi- 
cal or  just?  The  attitude  of  Jesus  towards 
those  who  questioned  him21  and  his  indignant 
bitterness,  seems  to  us  out  of  harmony  with 
a  gentle  sinlessness.  The  short  and  unfilial 
reply  at  the  wedding  of  Cana  seems  to  us  to 
mark  neither  an  ideal  son  nor  a  perfect  man. 
The  wanton  violation  of  age  long  customs 
dear  and  sacred  to  others,  is  not  the  mark  of 
a  perfect  teacher.  22The  cursing  of  a  harm- 
less fig  tree — God's  creation,  comes,  we  think, 
dangerously  near  blasphemy.  The  passages 
such  as  the  command  to  slay  the  enemies  of 
Jesus  who  would  not  have  him  reign  over 
them;  the  consignment  to  hell  of  those  who 
would  not  give  him  meat  or  drink;  and  the 
resentment  against  adversaries,  do  not  har- 
monize well  with  other  statements  of  this 
teacher  with  regard  to  the  forgiving  of  ene- 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS          259 

mies,  and  the  praying  for  those  who  despite^ 
fully  use  you.  The  use  of  invective,  the  exer- 
cise of  wrath,  the  repaying  of  evil  for  evil, 
and  the  promise  of  revenge,  are  hardly  the 
characteristics  of  the  perfect,  sinless  or  ideal 
man.  It  is  true  that  most  of  these  actions 
are  laid  to  occasions  where  Jesus  rose  in 
righteous  indignation.  But  after  all,  is  it  the 
privilege  of  a  perfect  man  to  permit  himself 
to  be  unduly  aroused  even  by  righteous  indig- 
nation? We  know  of  one  great  teacher  of 
whom  we  have  written  a  good  deal,  who  could 
not  be  aroused  even  by  those  who  desired  to 
torment  him."  It  was  the  great  Hillel,  who 
did  not  even  speak  unkindly  to  those  who 
scoffed  at  him.  He  was  indeed  always  con- 
siderate and  kind,  and  so  gentle  was  he  at  all 
times,  that  his  beauty  of  character  became 
proverbial  in  Talmud  and  Midrash.  You  may 
recall  that  it  was  this  gentle  teacher  who 
taught  his  disciples  "not  to  do  unto  others 
what  is  hateful  unto  thee;"  it  was  he  who 
taught  his  people  to  be  "of  the  disciples  of 
Aaron,  loving  peace  and  pursuing  it;"  it  was 
he  who  said  "judge  not  thy  neighbor  until 
thou  hast  come  into  his  place."  Although  in 
all  that  we  have  of  this  teacher,  not  one  in- 
stance of  indignation  is  recorded,  yet  no  Jew 
would  think  for  a  moment,  of  calling  him  a 
sinless  man.  "Hillel,"  says  Prof.  23Graetz, 
"was  particularly  distinguished  for  his  win- 
ning, dove-like  gentleness,  his  intense  love  for 


260          JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

humanity  which  arose  from  his  own  humility, 
and  from  his  deep  faith  in  others,  and  lastly 
for  that  perfect  equanimity  proceeding-  from 
his  profound  trust  in  God,  that  never  wavered 
in  the  midst  of  trouble.  In  later  ages  he  was 
revered  as  the  ideal  of  modesty  and  gentle- 
ness." With  such  a  teacher,  how  can  Israel 
believe  that  Jesus  was  the  only  Ideal  Man — 
the  Sinless  One? 

We  prefer  to  look  upon  Jesus  as  a  human 
teacher,  subject  to  the  same  social  and  uni- 
versal laws  and  human  reactions  as  other 
human  beings.  We  regard  him  as  the  type 
of  man  who  felt  that  he  had  something  to 
say  and  said  it  without  regard  to  possible 
consequences.  Certainly  he  was  a  man  with 
a  mission.  And  we  should  regard  his  mission 
as  that  of  a  teacher  in  Israel,  who  performed 
his  duty  as  he  saw  it,  and  who  acted  like 
other  men  would  have  acted,  when  brought 
face  to  face  with  opposition  and  even  scorn. 
We  should  class  Jesus,  too,  with  the  other 
Galileans,  who  bent  upon  doing  their  nation 
a  service,  and  finding  followers  to  carry  out 
their  purpose,  began  to  think  of  themselves 
as  saviours  of  their  oppressed  people,  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  expectations  current  in 
their  time. 

Whether  or  not  Jesus  belongs  to  that  class 
of  great  men  called  prophets,  is,  to  some,  a 
question.  There  are  a  few  Jews  who  believe 
that  he  does,  while  nearly  all  believe  that  he 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS          261 

does  not.  There  might  be  room  for  a  differ- 
ence of  opinion.  But  certainly  the  transcen- 
dental greatness  of  Isaiah  or  Jeremiah  who 
lived  so  long  before  Jesus,  and  whose  teach- 
ings are  still  so  vital,  can  hardly  be  compared 
to  that  of  one  who  lived  many  centuries  after 
their  early  teachings  had  already  taken  root. 
We  cannot  fail  to  compare  the  days  of  Isaiah 
and  his  ethical  environment,  with  those  of 
Jesus  and  his  ethical  environment;  and  the 
comparison  brings  us  to  the  inevitable  result, 
that  for  his  day,  Isaiah  was  much  greater 
than  was  Jesus  for  his.  To  the  Jew,  the 
prophets,  especially  the  greater  ones,  will 
always  be  prophets;  while  Jesus  will  at  best 
be  one  of  those  honored  teachers  who  labored 
in  the  vineyard  of  God,  after  the  prophetic 
spirit  had  left  the  world. 

It  seems  to  us  that  the  view  of  many  Jews 
regarding  the  personality  of  Jesus,  that  is, 
the  looking  upon  him  as  a  purely  human  and 
upward-striving  teacher,  does  away  with 
many  difficulties.  The  lack  of  Jesus's  politi- 
cal and  social  insight  has  caused  much  embar- 
rassment to  those  who  look  to  him  for  a  social 
program.  His  divine  wisdom,  according  to 
these,  should  have  been  great  enough  to  en- 
able him  to  set  forth  a  complete  program  of 
social  emancipation.  The  Jew  does  not  look 
for  a  superhuman  document  of  this  sort  from 
any  one  person.  Hence  he  may  look  upon 
Jesus  as  a  social  and  religious  reformer  with- 


262          JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

out  expecting  a  complete  program  of  social 
and  economic  salvation.  The  Jew  does  not 
look  upon  Jesus  as  an  ideal  man  and  therefore 
periods  of  anger  which  would  not  be  expected 
in  ideal  beings,  can  be  overlooked  in  Jesus. 
It  is  in  this  human  way  that  the  Jew  can  ac- 
count for  the  show  of  wrath  in  the  24philippic 
of  Matthew  against  the  Jews.  It  is  at  least 
logical  to  assume  that  had  Jesus  been  that 
ideal  man  which  Christianity  regards  him  to 
have  been,  he  would  have  used  that  same 
kind  of  gentleness  and  forbearance  toward  his 
enemies  that  Hillel  used  towards  the  heathen 
who  catne  to  make  fun  of  him  and  his  relig- 
ion. To  the  Jew  who  believes  in  the  human- 
ness  of  Jesus  25the  unfilial  renunciation  of  the 
mother  and  brethren  of  Jesus  by  him,  can  be 
explained  on  the  ground  of  a  temporary  hu- 
man passion  for  his  own  ideals  and  principles ; 
but  how  can  the  perfect  and  ideal  man  be  un- 
filial under  any  circumstances  ?  The  same  is 
to  be  said  of  his  remark  to  the  man  who  de- 
sired to  bury  his  father,  and  received  the  ad- 
monition to  26"leave  the  dead  bury  the  dead." 
A  great  deal  has  been  said  about  the  ideal- 
ism of  Jesus  with  regard  to  the  breadth  of 
his  attitude  towards  the  Gentiles,  while  the 
Jews  as  a  whole  were  clannish  and  narrow. 
Yet  his  injunction  27"go  not  into  any  way  of 
the  Gentiles  and  enter  not  into  any  city  of 
the  Samaritans  but  go  rather  to  the  lost 
sheep  of  the  house  of  Israel,"  would  indicate 


THE  MODERN  SOCIAL  IDEALS          263 

the  opposite.  The  reluctance  of  Jesus  to  help 
the  Canannitish  woman  28and  his  answer  to 
the  disciples  that  he  was  sent  to  the  lost 
sheep  of  the  house  of  Israel  bears  out  the 
statement  above. 

The  attitude  of  the  Jew  towards  Jesus  ap- 
proximates somewhat  that  of  a  scholar  like 
Bousset.  The  teacher  of  Nazareth  was  one 
of  many  who  gave  their  lives  for  the  sake  of 
the  faith  as  they  knew  it,  understood  it  and 
taught  it.  We  would  not  say  with  Bousset 
that  "he  was  the  leader  of  the  ages  and  the 
nations  to  God,  for  death  and  the  grave  could 
not  hold  his  person  and  his  spirit."  But  we 
would  rather  believe  that  Jesus,  born  of  hu- 
man parents,  endowed  with  an  extraordinary 
passion  for  Jewishness,  endeavored  to  en- 
throne this  where  he  thought  it  had  been  de- 
throned. It  was  this  passion  for  his  faith 
that  led  him  to  leave  his  home  and  to  break 
with  his  family;  it  was  this  passion  that 
brought  him  to  those  lowly  and  outcast  whom 
others  did  not  reach ;  it  was  this  passion  that 
gave  him  the  courage  to  face  his  accusers, 
and  it  did  not  leave  him  even  at  the  thresh- 
hold  of  martyrdom  to  Roman  intrigue  and 
rascality.  Prof.  Bousset  is  right  to  the  ex- 
tent of  believing  that  the  grave  cannot  hold 
the  person  and  spirit  of  such  a  one.  But 
among  the  flesh  and  blood  of  Jesus  there  have 
been  many  such — some  before,  thousands 
after,  the  man  of  Nazareth.  And  even  today 


264          JUDAISM,  CHRISTIANITY  AND 

this  spirit  of  the  Jew  is  daily  manifest  in  the 
thousands  of  the  persecuted  who  believed 
largely  as  he  did,  and  who  carry  their  faith 
with  them,  some  through  torture  and  perse- 
cution, and  many  to  destruction  and  death. 

The  liberal  Jew  of  today  regards  Jesus  not 
as  the  Messiah,  not  as  the  Son  of  God  and  the 
Redeemer  of  mankind,  and  not  as  the  perfect 
or  Ideal  Man.  But  he  looks  upon  him  as  a 
Jewish  teacher  of  the  first  century,  human 
in  his  passions,  devoted  to  his  religion,  en- 
thusiastic for  its  advancement,  loyal  to  its 
implications  and  sincere  in  his  admiration  for 
it.  For  all  of  these  the  liberal  Jew  admires 
Jesus ;  further  he  cannot  go.  He  claims  him 
as  one  of  the  many  sons  of  Jacob  who  have 
lived  and  achieved.  But  he  cannot  give  him 
a  place  beside  the  Creator  of  the  Universe. 
"Judaism,"  says  Dr.  Kohler,  29"ever  found  its 
strength  in  God,  the  Only  One,  and  will  ever 
find  Him  anew  a  source  of  inspiration  and  re- 
juvenation." For  to  the  Jew,  30God  will  al- 
ways be  One,  and  His  Name  will  be  One. 


ABBREVIATIONS 


AdRN.— Aboth  de  Rabbi  Nathan 

Am. — Amos 

Apoc. — Apocalypse 

Apoc.  and  Pseud. — Apocrypha  and  Pseudepigrapha 

Art.— Article 

BB.— Baba  Bathra 
Benj. — Benjamin 
Ben  Sir. — Ben  Sirach 
Ber. — Berachoth 

Chag.— Chagiga 
Chron. — Chronicles 

Deut.  or  Dt. — Deuteronomy 

Eccles. — Ecclesiastes 

Ecclus. — Ecclesiasticus 

ERE.— Encyclopedia  of  Religion  and  Ethics 

Ex. — Exodus 

Ex.  R.— Exodus  Rabbah 

Ezek.— Ezekiel 

Gen. — Genesis 

Gen.  R.— Genesis  Rabbah 

Gitt.— Gittin 

Hos. — Hosea 

Isa. — Isaiah 
Iss. — Issachar 

Jer. — Jeremiah 

JE. — Jewish  Encyclopedia 

Jos. — Joseph 

Jub. — Jubilees 

Keth— Kethuboth 

Koh.  R.— Koheleth  Rabbah 

Lev.— Leviticus 
Lk.— Luke 

LNT. — Introduction  to  Literature  of  the  New  Testament 
by  James  Moffat 

Mai.— Malachi 
Mk.— Mark 


266  ABBREVIATIONS 


Matt.— Matthew 

Mech.— Mechilta 

Mic.— Micah 

Mid.— Midrash 

Mid.  R.— Midrash  Kabbah 

Mid.   Ruth   R.— Midrash  Ruth   Rabbah 

Mish.— Mishnah 

Naph.— Naphtali 

N.    T. — New  Testament 

O.  T. — Old  Testament 

PA.— Pirke  Aboth 

P.   B. — Prayer  Book 

Prov. — Proverbs 

Ps.— Psalms 

Ps.  of  Sol. — Psalms  of  Solomon 

RH. — Rosh  Hashanah 

•Sabb.— Sabbath 

Sanh. — Sanhedrin 

Sib.  Bks.— Sibylline  Books 

Sif.— Sifra 

Succ. — Succoth 

Tanch. — Tanchuma 
Test. — Testament 
Theol. — Theology 
Tob.— Tobit 
Tos. — Tosephtah 

Way  R. — Wayikrah  Rabbah 
Wis.  of  Sol. — Wisdom  of  Solomon 

Yeb. — Yebamoth 

Zeb. — Zebulon 
Zech.— Zechariah 
Zeph. — Zephaniah 


NOTES 


NOTES  ON  CHAPTER  I. 

(1)  Page  14,  Cf.  S.  J.  Case,  Evolution  of  Early  Christi- 
anity.  Chap.  IV. 

(2)  Page  14,  Article  Jesus,   JE;   W.   Bousset,   Chap.   II. 

(3)  Page  17,  "So  far  as  we  know,  Jesus  left  no  writings, 
no  notes  behind  him.  We  do  not  read  that  he  ever  told 
any  one  to  take  down  his  words  so  as  to  give  them  to 
others,  in  white  and  black.  We  are  not  told  that  he  wrote 
or   dictated    even   a   letter."    C.    R.    Gregory,    Canon   and 
Text,  p  44. 

(4)  Page  17,  Cf.  G.  B.  Foster,  Finality  of  the  Christian 
Religion,  p  325ff. 

(5)  Page  17,  S.  J.  Case,  Historicity  of  Jesus,  p  136ff. 

(6)  Page  17,  Cf.  P.  Wernle,  Sources  of  Our  Knowledge 
of  the  Life  of  Jesus. 

(7)  Page  18,  James  Moffat,  Introduction  to  the  Litera- 
ture of  the  New  Testament,  p  1.  This  work  of  Moffat  Is 
easily  the  best  piece  of  New  Testament  scholarship  that 
has  been  produced  in  recent  years.  On  account  of  its  mas- 
terly treatment  of  the  New  Testament  writings,  and  be- 
cause of  the  tremendously  large  field  of  scholarship  whicn 
it  covers,  it  has  been  used  as  the  basis  to  a  large  extent, 
for  the  summary  of  the  New  Testament  in  this  chapter. 

(8)  Page  18,  "Jesus  wrote  nothing,  nor  caused  anything 
to  be  written.  He  never  dreamed  of  giving  a  second  vol- 
ume to  the  Bible  of  the  Jews,  still  less  of  creating  anoth- 
er sacerdotal  order  and  new  ceremonies."  L.  A.  Sat>atier, 
Religion  of  Authority,  p  45.   "This  new  inspiration  which 
gave    to    all    preachers    of   the    Gospel    the    assurance    of 
being,  and  the  right  to  claim  to  be,  bearers  of  the  Word 
of  God,  gave  rise  to  a  new  collection  of  sacred  books.  But 
in  the  Apostolic  time,  no  one  had  gone  so  far.     No  one 
foresaw   that   a   second   volume   would    be    added    to   the 
Bible.  People  lived  in  expectation  of  the  end  of  the  world. 
Jesus   had    promised    the    Church    his   spirit,    not   a    new 
book."  Ibid,  p  167;  Case,  Historicity,  p  136. 

(10)  Page  21,  Cf.  Moffat,  p  8,  15ff. 

(11)  Page  21,  Cf.  Moffat,  p  16. 

(12)  Page  22,  Cf.  Moffat,  p  23ff. 

(13)  Page  24,  Cf.  Moffat,  p  38ff. 

(14)  Page  26,  Cf.   Moffat,   LNT.   p   185-186.   Cf.   Wernle, 
Sources,  Chap.  I. 

(15)  Page  28,  Q  for  Quelle,     which     means     origin     or 
source. 


268  NOTES 


(16)  Page  29,  Moffat,  LNT,  p  114  ft.  Art.  New  Test..  JE. 

(17)  Page  34,  Cf.  Art.  Burial,  JE. 

(18)  Page  37,  Cf.  Moffat,  LNT,  p  60  ff.  Art.  Paul,  Enc. 
Biblica.  The  so-called  Dutch  School  of  Biblical  Criticism 
denies  that  Paul  wrote  any  of  the  Epistles  attributed  to 
him. 

(19)  Page  39,  Cf.  Moffat,  LNT,  p  435. 

(20)  Page  40,  Cf.  LNT,  p  448. 

(21)  Page  46,  Cf.  G.  Friedlander,  Sources  of  the  Sermon 
on  the  Mount. 

NOTES    ON    CHAPTER    II. 

(1)  Page  48,  Lev.  19:18. 

(2)  Page  48,  Lev.  19:34. 

(3)  Page  49,  Sif.  to  Lev.  19:18. 

(4)  Page  49,  Matt.  5:43-44. 

(5)  Page  50,  Prov.  24:29:   "Say  not  I  will  do  so  to  him, 
who  hath  so  done  to  me,  I  will  requite  him  according  tu 
his  deed."  Prov.  25:21-22:  "If  thine  enemy  be  hungry,  feed 
him  with  bread,  if  he  be  thirsty,  give  him  water  to  drink; 
for  thou  shalt  be  heaping  coals  of  fire  upon  his  head,  and 
God  will  reward  thee."  Ex.  23:4-5.     "If  thou  meet  thins 
enemy's   ox   or   his   ass   going   astray,    thou   shalt    surely 
bring  it  back  to  him  again;  if  thou  see  the  ass  of  him  that 
hateth  thee  lying  under  its  burden,  thou  shalt  forbear  to 
pass  by  him;  thou  shalt  surely  release  it  with  him." 

(6)  Page  51,  PA,  1:12. 

(7)  Page  51,  Mark  2:27. 

(8)  Page  51,  Mech.  to  Ex.  31-14. 

(9)  Page  51,  Mark  1:22;  Luke  4:32. 

(10)  Page  52,  Pirke  Aboth,  or  Chapters  of  the  Fathers. 
A  very  valuable  treatise  of  the  Mishnah,  containing  a  large 
number  of  ethical  maxims  and  sayings  of  the  rabbis.  The 
treatise    contains    some    of   the   best    gems    of   rabbinical 
thought,  and  in  such  high  esteem  was  it  held  by  the  an- 
cient authorities,  that  it  was  incorporated  as  an  integral 
part  of  the   Sabbath  afternoon  service,  in  the  ritual  for 
the  summer  months.  It  was  the  most  popular  of  the  rab- 
binical writings,  and  the  most  widely  quoted. 

(11)  Page  52,  C.  Taylor,  Ethics  of  the  Fathers.     A  later 
edition  of  this  treatise,  and  also  an  excellent  one,  is  by 
Joseph   L.    Gorfinkle,   Ethics   of  the   Fathers,   in   the   Li- 
brary of  Jewish  Classics,  Bloch  Pub.  Co.,  New  YorK. 

(12)  Page    53,    Cf.    W.    H.    Green,    Introduction    to    Old 
Testament  Canon,  p  138,  where  all  the  passages  concern- 
ing the  canonicity  of  the  OT  books  are  cited  and  discuss- 
ed. 

(13)  Page  53.  For  a  full  description  of  these  sects,  see 


NOTES  269 


articles  under  sect  heads  in  Jewish  Ency.  Cf.  also  R.  T. 
Herford,  Pharisaism;  and  Gerald  Friedlander,  The  Jew- 
ish Sources  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  especially 
Chap.  VIli. 

(14)  Page  53,  See  first  part  of  note  13.  Cf.  also  article* 
under  sect  heads  in  Enclyclopedia  of  Religion  and  Ethics. 

(15)  Page  54,  Essenes,  JE. 

(16)  Page  54,  Gen.  1:28. 

(17)  Page  &4,  Cf.  JE,  Vol.  9,  p  665. 

(18)  Page  55,  Matt.   23,  and  similar  passages. 

(19)  Page  57,   G.   B.   Stevens,   The  Teachings  of  Jesus, 
Chap.   III. 

(20)  Page  58,   Stevens,  p  34. 

(21)  Page  58,  PA,  1:11. 

(22)  Page  58,  PA,   1:9. 

(23)  Page  59,   There  are  nearly  two  hundred  parablea 
in  the  M'idrash  Tanchuma  on  the  Five  Books  of  Moses, 
and  more  than  half  that  many  stories  and  anecdotes. 

(24)  Page  59,  Matt.  22:1-15.  Cf.  Sabb.  153a. 

(25)  Page  59,  Matt.  20:1-16;  Cf.  JE,  Vol.  9,  p  514. 

(26)  Page  60,  AdRN,  IV. 

(27)  Page  61,  BB  lOb. 

(28)  Page  61,  PA,  1:17. 

(29)  Page  61,   The  word   "Thora"   or   "Tora"   does  not 
mean  "law"  in  our  sense  of  the  term.  It  is  best  translated 
by  the  word  "religion,"  and  the  phrase  "teachings  of  the 
faith."   Our  word   "law,"   is  not  only  a  very   inadequate 
translation,  but  a  very  misleading  one. 

(30)  Page  61,  P.-A.,  1:2. 

(31)  Page  61,  PA,  1:5. 

(32)  Page  61,  Matt.  7:1. 

(33)  Page  61,  PA,  1:6. 

(34)  Page  61,  PA,  2:5. 

(35)  Page  61,  Sota,  1:7,  Cf.  Matt.  7:1-2. 

(36)  Page  63,  Yoma,  8:9. 

(37)  Page  63,  The  Prophet  Hosea  tells  you,  "take  with 
you   words  and   return   to   the   Lord.   Hos.    15:3.     Words, 
words  of  earnest  prayer,  not  sacrifice  do  I  require,  ana 
I  will  pardon  all  your  sins.  ExR.  38:4.  Cf.  Amos,  5:23-24, 
and  similar  expressions. 

(38)  Page  63,  Matt.  5:23-24. 

(39)  Page  63,  Toma,  8:9;  86b. 

(40)  Page  64,  Mark  2:27. 

(41)  Page   64,   Stevens,   Teachings  of  Jesus,  p.   52.     Cf. 
Matt.   23:23  and  Matt.   5:20. 

(42)  Page  64,  PA,   1:1. 

(43)  Page  64,  PA,  1:18  on  Zech.  8:16. 

(44)  Page   64,   PA,   2:5.   The  passage  in  Matt.    7:2  and 


270  NOTES 


Luke  6:38,  "judge  not.. with  what  measure  ye  mete,  1\. 
shall  be  measured  unto  you,"  has  a  parallel  as  follows: 
"With  whatever  measure  one  measures,  with  that  meas- 
ure will  men  measure  him."  Sota  1:7. 

(45)  Page  65,  PA,  4:9. 

(46)  Page  65,  PA,  4:10. 

(47)  Page   65,   Ex.    18:21  and   Mid.    R.   to  Deut.    1:7;   to 
Deut.   1:1:    "Said  Rabbi  Berachya  in  the  name  of  Kabbi 
Chanina:  It  is  necessary  that  those  who  judge  shall  pos- 
sess seven  qualifications,   and  these  are:    They  must   b^ 
wise  men,  men  of  standing,  and  well  known,  and  the  four 
as  mentioned  in  Ex.  18:21." 

(48)  Page  65,  In  the  treatise  known  as  Aboth  de  Rab- 
bi Nathan,  we  find  that  it  was  the  opinion  of  Simon  tho 
Just  that  the  knowledge  of  the  Law  was  more  desired  by 
God   than   sacrifice,    for    he    who   knew   the   Law,    would 
know  also  the  desire  of  God.  And  the  superiority  of  the 
knowledge  of  God's  Law  is  attested  to,  according  to  thlb 
authority,   by  Hos.   6:6:    "Mercy  I  desire  more  than  sac- 
rifices,    the     knowledge    of    God    more    than    burn    of- 
ferings."   AdRN    4,   on   Hos.    6:6.    Cf.    K.    Kohler,    Jewish 
Theology  and  M.  Lazarus,  The  Ethics  of  Judaism. 

(49)  Page  68,  Ps.  106:3. 

(50)  Page  66,  Am.  6:24. 

(51)  Page  66,  Hos.  2:21. 

(52)  Page  66,  Isa.   1:17. 

(53)  Page  66,  Jer.  22  :S. 

(54)  Page  66,  Ezek.  18:8-9. 

(55)  Page  66,  Zech.  7:9. 

(56)  Page  66,  Mich.  6:8. 

(57)  Page  67,  Sifra  to  Lev.  18:5. 

(58)  Page  68,  Deut.  13.5. 

(59)  Page  68,  Sota  14a. 

(60)  Page  68,  Midrash  Tanchuma  1. 

(61)  Page  69    Sota  14a. 

(62)  Page  69,  Koh.  R,  7:4. 

(63)  Page  69,  Succ.  49b. 

(64)  Page  69,  Derech  Eretz  Zuta  1. 

(65)  Page  69,  Ex.  15:2. 

(66)  Page  69,  Sabb.  133b. 

(67)  Page  69,  Koh.  R.  7:23. 

(68)  Page  69,  Gen.  R.   33:3. 

(69)  Page  70,  BB,  9a. 

(70)  Page  70,  Succ.  49b. 

"The  poor  man  who  receives  charity  does  more  for  the 
master  of  the  house  than  the  master  does  for  the  poor 
man."  Way.  R.  34:10. 

(71)  Page  70,  Keth.   68a. 

(72)  Page  70,  BB,  9b.  Cf.  Is.  58:8-14. 


NOTES  271 


(73)  Page  70,  Way.  R.  34:15. 

(74)  Page  70,  Chag.  5a. 

(75)  Page  71,  BB,  9b. 

(76)  Page  71,   Succ.    49b. 

(77)  Page  71,  Sabb.  lOa. 

(78)  Page  71,  Gitt.  61a. 

(79)  Page  72,  Tos.  Sanh.  13.2. 

(80)  Page  74,  AdRN,  23. 

(81)  Page  74,  Adolf  Harnack,  "What  is  Christianity?" 
p  38. 

(82)  Page  74,  PA,  4:3.  Cf.  Sabb.  77b. 

(83)  Page   74,   Gen.   5:1;   Gen.    R.    24;   Cf.    Sifra  to  Le> 
19:18. 

(84)  Page  74,  Sanh.  37a. 

(85)  Page   75,   Yama,   38b. 

(86)  Page  75,  There  are  two  Talmudic  collections,    one 
of  which  is  smaller  and  of  lesser  importance,  called  Tal 
mud  Yerushalmi,  and  the  other,  the  commonly  used  one 
and  the  one  referred  to  in  this  work,  Talmud  Babll,   ov 
the   Babylonian   Talmud.    The    Midrashim   are   collections 
of  expositions  of  the  Biblical  contents  by  rabbis  and  teach- 
ers  in   Israel.      There   is   a   large   number   of   Miarashlm. 
and  they  not  only  contain  expositions  and  explanations  01 
the  Scriptural  verses  but  they  contain  stories,  anecdotes 
sayings,  and  in  fact,  the  thoughts  and  the  teachings  of 
Israel.     The   Midrashim   referred   to   here,   are   Haggadlc 
Midrashim,   not  the  Halachic.   Cf.   JE.   Art.   Mldrash.    Cf. 
Also  Herford,  Pharisaism,  Chap.  III. 

(87)  Page  76,  The  best  English  work  is  that  of  M.  Miel 
ziner,  Introduction  to  the  Talmud. 

(88)  Page  78,  R.  H.  Charles,  Book  of  Enoch,  Introduc- 
tion XCV. 

NOTES  ON   CHAPTER   III. 

(1)  Page  79,  R.   H.   Charles,  Apocrypha  and  Pseuaepi 
graph  of  the  Old  Testament. 

(2)  Page  80,  Book  of  Enoch  1:1. 

(3)  Page  80,  Enoch  1:1-5. 

(4)  Page  80,  Enoch  5:4-7. 

(5)  Page  81,  Enoch  10:15,  16:18. 

(6)  Page  81,  Enoch  10:10,  20:22. 

(7)  Page  81,  Enoch,  10:22,  11:1-2. 

(8)  Page  82,  Enoch  91:1-4. 

(9)  Page  82,  Enoch  95:1-7. 

(10)  Page  82,  Enoch  91:1-3;  Cf.  Matt.  23:15ff;  LUKC  «:24tt 

(11)  Page  82,  Enoch  98:11-16,  99:1-2. 

(12)  Page  83,  Enoch  99:10-16. 

(13)  Page  84,  Enoch  94:1-3:4. 

(14)  Page  84,  See  next  Chapter. 

(15)  Page  84,  Cf.  Moffat,  LNT,  p  26. 


272  NOTES 


(16)  Page  84,  Cf.  JE,  Vol.  II,  p  388. 

(17)  Page  85,  Ben  Sirach  7:31-32. 

(18)  Page  86,  Ben  Sirach  7:1-2. 

(19)  Page  86,  Ben  Sirch  4:25. 

(20)  Page  86,  Ben  Sirach  4:28,29. 

(21)  Page  86,  Ben  Sirach  4:31. 

(22)  Page  86,  Ben  Sirach  7:6,  7:10-13. 

(23)  Page  86,  Ben  Sirach  7:33-35. 

(24)  Page  87,  Ben  Sirach  9:11-12. 

(25)  Page  87,  Ben  Sirach  17:14. 

(26)  Page  87,   Ben  Sirach  17:25-26-29. 

(27)  Page  87,  Ben  Sirach  23:18,  21:22. 

(28)  Page  87,  Matt.  5:43-44. 

(29)  Page  88,  Ben  Sirach  28:1-17. 

(30)  Page  88,  Cf.  Matt.  5:23ff. 

(31)  Page  89,  Ben  Sirach  29:8-13. 

(32)  Page  89,  Ben  Sirach  34:18-22. 

(33)  Page  90,  Ben  Sirach  35:12-14. 

(34)  Page  91,  Cf.  JE.,  Vol.  12,  p  538;  also  Charles  Apoc. 
and  Pseud,  oi  the  OT. 

(35)  Page  91;  Wis.   of  Sol.   1:1-11. 

(36)  Page  92,  Wis.  of  Sol.  5:14-20. 

(37)  Page  93,  Wis.   of  Sol.  6:1-8. 

(38)  Page  95,  R.  H.  Charles,  Book  of  Jubilees  or  Lim* 
Genesis;  also  his  Apoc.  and  Pseud.  See  also  JE.  Art.  Jubi- 
lees. 

(39)  Page  96,  Jub.  1:19-20. 

(40)  Page  96,  Jub.  7:20-34. 

(41)  Page  97,  Jub.  20:2-3. 

(42)  Page  97,  Jub.  20:9-10. 

(43)  Page  98,  Jub.   21:22-24. 

(44)  Page  99    Jub.   36:3-6. 

(45)  Page  99,  Jub.  36:16. 

(46)  Page  99,  R.  H.  Charles,  Testaments  of  the  Twelvo 
Patriarchs;  also  his  Apoc.  and  Pseud.  Cf.  JE,  Vol.   12,  p 
113. 

Prof.  Charles  enumerates  no  fewer  than  91  passages  of 
the  New  Testament  which  are  directly  dependent  upon  the 
Testaments  of  the  Twelve  Patriarchs.  These  passages 
are  scattered  both  through  the  Gospels  and  the  other 
books  of  the  New  Testament. 

(47)  o/age  100,  Matt.  22:36-40;  Mk.  12:28-33;  Cf.  Test  ot 
Dan,  5:3;  Test  of  Benj.  3:3;  and  Test  of  Iss.  5:2. 

(48)  Page  101,   Cf.   Lev.   19:18-34;   Dt.    6:5;   7:9-10;   30:6, 
Isa.  58:6ff;  Ps.  15,  and  similar  passages. 

(49)  Page  102,  Test  of  Reuben  6:1-3. 

(50)  Page  102,  Reuben  6:9. 

(51)  Page  102,  Simeon  2:13. 

(52)  Page  102,  Simeon  3. 


NOTES  275 


(53)  Page  102,  Simeon  4:7-8. 

(54)  Page  102,   Simeon  5:2. 

(55)  Page  103,  Levi  1:2. 

(56)  Page  103,  Levi  2:10;  Cf.  Gen.  34. 

(57)  Page  103,   Levi  2:3-4. 

(58)  Page  103,  Levi  8:2. 

(59)  Page  104,  Levi  13:1. 

(60)  Page  104,  Levi  13:5-6. 

(61)  Page  104,  Levi  13:9  Cf.;  Matt  5:19. 

(62)  Page  104,  Levi  14:3. 

(63)  Page  104,  Levi  14:4.       • 

(64)  Page  105,  Levi  19:1.  Cf.  2  Cor.  6:14. 

(65)  Page  105,  Judah  13:2. 

(66)  i-age  105,  Judah  18:1-4. 

(67)  Page  105,   Judah  23:5. 

(68)  Page  106,  Judah  24:1-3,  5-6. 

(69)  Page  106,  Judah  25:1  Cf.;  Matt.  19:28. 

(70)  Page  107,  Cf.  Luke  6:20fC. 

(71)  j.age  107,  Judah  26:1. 

(72)  Page  107,  Iss.  4:1. 

(73)  Page  108,  Iss.  5:1-2. 

(74)  Page  108,  Iss.  7:2-7. 

(75)  Page  109,  Zeb.  5:1. 

(76)  Page  109,  Zeb.  6:4,  7:1-4. 

(77)  Page  110,  Zeb.  8:1. 

(78)  Page  110,  Dan  1:3. 

(79)  Page  1_0,  Dan  2:1. 

(80)  Page  ill,  Dan  5:1-3. 

(81)  Page  111,  Dan  6:10. 

(82)  Page  111,  Naph.   3:1. 

(83)  Page  ill,  Naph.  8:4-6. 

(84)  Page  112,  Gad  3:1-3. 

(85)  Page  112,  Gad  4:1-2. 

(86)  Page  112,  Gad  4:6-7. 

(87)  Page  113,  Gad  6:1. 

(88)  Page  113,  Gad  6:3-4. 

(89)  Page  113,'  Gad  6:7. 

(90)  Page  113,  Asher  2:6. 

(91)  Page  114,  Asher  3:1-2. 

(92)  Page  114,  Asher  6:1-3. 

(93)  Page  114,  Jos.   6:1-3. 

(94)  Page  114,  Jos.  17:1-3. 

(95)  Page  115,  Jos.  18:1-2. 

(96)  Page  115,  Cf.  Matt.  5:43ff. 

(97)  Page  115,  Benj.  3:1-3. 

(98)  Page  115,  Benj.  4:1-3. 

(99)  Page  116,  Benj.  5:4. 


274  NOTES 


(100)  Page  116,  BenJ.  6:5-7. 

(101)  Page  116,  Benj.  8:1. 

(102)  Page   116,  Benj.   10:3. 

NOTES   ON    CHAPTER    IV. 

(1)  Page  119,  E.  T.  Herford,  Pharisaism,  already  refer- 
ed  to. 

(2)  Page  119,  Ibid.  Preface  IV,  Intro,  p  4. 

(3)  Page  120,  Ibid,  p  236. 

(5)  Page   122,   Cf.   J.   Eschelbacher,  Das  Judentum   und 
das  Wesen  des   Christentums,   p  53. 

(6)  Page  123,  Sota,  lOa. 

(7)  Page  123,  Ex.  R.  5:9. 

(8)  Page  123,  Mai.  2:10. 

(9)  Page  124,  Sanh.  13:2. 

(10)  Page  124,  Matt.  10:23-33. 

(11)  Page  124,  Matt.   7:21. 

(12)  Page  124,  Matt.  11:25-27;  Luke  10:22. 

(13)  Page  124,   Matt.   18:19-20;  Cf.  PA  3:3-7. 

(14)  Page  125,  Matt.  18:35. 

(15)  Page  125,  Luke  22:29. 

(16)  Page  125,  Matt.  12:50. 

(17)  Page  125,  John  14:2. 

(18)  Page  iZ5,  Matt.  16:17. 

(19)  Page  125,  Luke  24:49. 

(20)  Page  126,  Matt.  5:48. 

(21)  Page  126,  Matt.  5:44-45. 

(22)  Page  126,  Matt.   10:29;  Matt.   23:9. 

(23)  Page  126,  Matt.  18:14. 

(24)  Page  126,  Matt.  7:11. 

(25)  Page  126,  Matt.  5:16. 

(26)  Page  126,  Mark  25:26. 

(27)  Page  126,  Luke,6: 35-86. 

(28)  Page  127,  Deut.  14:1. 

(29)  Page  127,  Exodus  5:22. 

(30)  Page  127,  Ex.  4:22. 

(31)  Page  127,  Isa.   63:15-16. 

(32)  Page  127,  Isa.   64:7. 

(33)  Page  127,  Isa.   49:15-18. 

(34)  Page  128,  Jer.   3:4. 

(35)  Page  128,  Hos.   11:1.. 

(36)  Page  128,  Jer.  3:14-19. 

(37)  Page  128,  Ps.  89:27. 

(38)  Page  US,  Hos.  2:1;  Mai.  2:10. 

(39)  Page  128,  Ps.  68:5. 

(40)  Page  128,  Ben  Sirach  23:1. 

(41)  Page  128,  Ben  Sirach  4:10. 

(42)  Page  128,  Ben  Sirach  23:4. 

(43)  Page  129,  Wis.  of  Sol.  14:3-4. 

(44)  Pago  129,  Wis.  of  Sol.  2:13. 


NOTES  276 


(45)  Page  129,  Tobit  13:4. 

(46)  Page  129,   Test,   of  Levi  24:1-3. 

(47)  Page  x29,  Test,  of  Judah  24:1-3. 

(48)  Page  129,  Ps.   of  Sol.  17:30. 

(49)  Page   130,    See   Art.    Abba   and  Abinu   Malkenu   in 
JE.,  Vol.  I,  also  G.   Friedlander,  The  Jewish  Sources  on 
the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,   Chap.   7;   K.   Kohler,   Jewish 
Theol.  Ch.  XL. 

(50)  Page  130,  Ber.  30b. 

(51)  Page  130,  Yoma,  8:9. 

(52)  Page  130    Mid.  Tehillim,  121-1. 

(53)  Page  130,  R.  H.,  3:8. 

(54)  Page  130,  Quoted  in  JE.,  Vol.  I,  under  Art.  Abba. 

(55)  Page    130,    See    note   above.    Other   reference   aro 
given  in  this  article. 

(56)  Page  130,  Sota  9:15. 

(57)  Page  130,   Taanith  23b. 

(58)  Page  131,  Sota  lOa. 

(59)  Page  131,  Ber.  30a. 

(60)  Page  13*    PA,  5:23. 

(61)  Page  .31,  Sota  38b. 

(62)  Page  131,  Succ.  30a. 

(63)  Page  132,  A.  Harnack,  What  is  Christianity,  p  70. 

(64)  Page  132,  S.  Schechter,  Some  Aspects  of  Rabbinical 
Theology,  p  26ff. 

(65)  Page  133,  Ex.  4:32;  19:5. 

(66)  Page  133,  Schechter,  Ibid,  p  46. 

(67)  Page  133,  Cf.  Herford,  Pharisaism,  p  120. 

(68)  Page  133,  Wis.  of  Sol.  2:14-16. 

(69)  Page  135,  PA,  2:9. 

(70)  Page    135,   Cf.    Prayer   Book,    Singer's   Translation, 
pp  46,  60-61,  and  many  other  passages. 

(71)  Page  136,  Matt.  10:5-6. 

(72)  Page  137,  Singer  PB.,  p  77;  Union  PB.  Vol.  I,  p  48. 
Einhorn  PB,  p  35. 

(73)  Page  138,  Zech.  14:9. 

(74)  Page  138,  Lev.  19:17. 

(75)  Page  139,  Lev.  19:23-34. 

(76)  Page  140,  Deut.   23.8. 

(77)  Page  140,  Hos.  6:6. 

(78)  Page  141,  Mic.   6:6-8. 

(79)  Page  141,  Sota  14a. 

(80)  Page  142,  Sabb.  31a. 

(81)  Page  142,  Isa.  68:3;  6:12. 

(82)  Page  145,  Luke  6:27ff;  Matt.  5:38ff. 

(83)  Page  147,  Luke  6:29;  Matt.   5:40. 

(84)  Page  148,  Ber.  7a;  45b. 

(85)  Page  149,  Tob.  4:15. 

(86)  Page  149,  Iss.  5:2. 


276  NOTES 


(87)  Page  149,  Iss.  7:5-6. 

(88)  Page  149,  Dan  5:3. 

(89)  Page  149,  Benj.  3:3. 

(90)  Page  150,  Sota  14a. 

(91)  Page  150,  Gen.  R.  33:3. 

(92)  Page  150,  Gen.   R.   33:4. 

(93)  Page  150,  Deut.  13:5. 

(94)  Page  150,  Nahum  1:3. 

(95)  Page  150,  Ps.   77:20. 

(96)  Page  150,  Sota  14a. 

(97)  Page  151,  Gen.  2:4. 

(98)  Page  151,  Gen.  R.  24:7;  Cf.  Sifra  to  Lev.   19:18. 

(99)  Page  151  Tana  d'be  Eljah. 

(100)  Page  151,  Sanh.  58b,  Cf.  Matt.  5:28. 

(101)  Page  151,  Arachin  16b. 

(102)  Page  152,  Koh.  R.  7:5. 

(103)  Page  152,  PA.,  1:12. 

(104)  Page  152,  Succ.  49b. 

(105)  Page  152,  Teb.  62b. 

(106)  Page  152,  Isa.  58:7. 

(107)  Page  154,  AdRN,  4. 

(108)  Page  154,  Hos.  6:6. 

(109)  Page  154,Sabb.  133b. 

(110)  Page    154    M.    Lazarus,    Ethics   of   Judaism,    Pan 
1,  p  207. 

(111)  Page  155,  H.  H.  Wendt,  Teachings  of  Jesus,  Vol. 
1,  p  44. 

(112)  Page  156,  F.  Weber,  Die  Altsynagogale  Theologle. 
For  a  just  criticism  of  this  unreliable  work  see  Herford, 
Pharisaism,  p  77ff. 

(113)  Page   156,   Lazarus,   Ibid,   p   237. 

(114)  Page    161,    Cf.    G.    A.    Smith,    The    Twelve    Minoi 
Prophets;  W.  R.   Smith,  Prophets  of  Israel;  W.   R.  Har- 
per, Hosea  and  Amos. 

(115)  Page  162,  J.  F.   McCurdy,   History,  Prophecy  and 
the  Monuments. 

(116)  Page  162,  Lev.   25:39;  Jer.   34:9-llfC. 

(117)  Page  163,  Isa.  9:16-28;  7:30;  10-11;  Jer.  5:31;  6:13, 
Mic.  3:2-9;  Zeph.  3:3;  Cf.  Moses  Buttenweiser,  The  Proph- 
ets of  Israel. 

(118)  Page  164,  Isa.  1:4;  9:17;  3:14;  5:11;  Jer.  5:25;  8:10; 
6:13;  Hos.  10:13;   12:8;  Am.  4:1-5;   10:11;   6:4-6,  and  many 
other  passages. 

(119)  Page  168,  Isa.   2:6;  10:3;   25:26;  28:5-6;   Jer.   6:2-7; 
5:9-24;    33:15;   Hos.    6:6-12;   Am.    4:4-6;    10:5-12;    Mic.    6:1, 
Zech.  8:16-17,  etc. 

(120)  Page  168,  Isa.  30:18-32;  20:33;  35:8;  Jer.  6:16;  28:5- 
6;  Hos.  12:6;  Amos  5:13,  etc. 

(121)  Page  169,  Jer.  5:1  Cf.  Mic.  7:2. 


NOTES  277 


(122)  Page  169,  Jer.   3:13;   13:27;  23:10-14;   Hos.   4:16-18; 
Am.  2:7;  Mic.  3:1-4,  etc. 

(123)  Page  169,  Am.  5:10-11. 

(124)  Page  169,  Isa.  5:20-23. 

(125)  Page  170,  Am.  2:4-7. 

(126)  Page  170,  Am.  8:4ff;  Mic.  3:2-7-2. 

(127)  Page  170,  Am.   3:15. 

(128)  Page  170,  Am.  4:1;  6:4;  Isa.  5:11-28;  Hos.  7:5;  Hos. 
7:5. 

(129)  Page  171,  Am.  4:1;  5:11;  Isa.  1,  and  others. 

(130)  Page  171,   Mic.   6:8. 

(131)  Page  172,  Am.   5:21-24. 

(132)  Page  173,  Jer.  4:14. 

(133)  Page  173,   Jer.    6:19-20. 

(134)  Page  173,  Jer.  7:4-7  Cf.;  Zech.  7:9-10. 

(135)  Page  173,  Isa.  1:11-17. 

(136)  Page  174,  Jer.   9:23-24. 

(137)  Page  175,  Isa.   l:27ff  and  other  passages. 

(138)  Page  176,  Jer.  22:lff;  Hos.  7;  Am.  1:3-11;  13:2-4. 

(139)  Page    176,    Isa.    30:1-2;    Hos.    12:6-7;    and   a   large 
number  of  similar  passages. 

(140)  Page  177,  Hos.  10:12. 

(141)  Page  177,  Isa.  1:27. 

(142)  Page  177,  Jer.  22:1-6. 

(143)  Page  178,  Isa.  22:8;  Jer.  4:lff;  Ez.  16:lff;  Hos.  4:lff; 
Amos  3;  Micah.  6:3ff. 

(144)  Page  178,  Zech.  8:16. 

(145)  Page  178,  Isa.  32:16-17. 

(146)  Page  179,   Jer.   7:5. 

(147)  Page  182,   Deut.   13:5. 

(148)  Page   182,  Ex.  34:6-7. 

(149)  Page  183,  Jer.   31:29. 

(150)  Page  183,   Deut.   24:16. 

(151)  Page  183,  Ezek.   18:2-4;   17:18-20. 

(152)  Page  186,  Ps.  7:9-11. 

(153)  Page  186,  Ps.  24:3-5. 

(154)  Page  186,  Ps.  25. 

(155)  Page  187,  Ps.   34:12-17. 

(156)  Page  188,  Ps.  18:21ff. 

(157)  Page  189,  Ps.   19:8-10. 

(158)  Page  192,  Tob.  4:5-6. 

(159)  Page  192,  Tob.  12:8-10. 

(160)  Page  193,  Enoch  10:20. 

(161)  Page  193,  Enoch  94:1-4. 

(162)  Page  193,  Enoch  10:4-9. 

(163)  Page  194,  Enoch  96:7-8  Cf.  Form  of  Matt.  23:13ff. 

(164)  Page  194,  Ben  Sir.   7:1-2. 

(165)  Page  194,  Ben  Sir.  28.2. 

(166)  Page  194,  Ben  Sir.  29:2-3. 


278  NOTES 


(167)  Pag-e  195,  Ben  Sir  35:3. 

(168)  Page  195,  Jub.   1:20. 

(169)  Page  195,   Jub.   1:22-25. 

(170)  Page  195,   Jub.   21:21-23. 

(171)  Page   196,   Test,    of  Gad,   6:1. 

(172)  Page  196,  Gad  7:1. 

(173)  Page  196,  Iss.   3:1. 

(174)  Page  197,  Iss.  4:1-2;  5:1-2. 

(175)  Page  197,  R.  H.  Charles,  Apoc.  of  Baruch,  p  46. 

(176)  Page  201,  Yoma,  8:9;  Cf.  Sifra  to  Lev.  16:30. 

(177)  Page  201,  Tanch.  Pekuday  2. 

(178)  Page  201,  Tanch.  Wayikrah  1. 

(179)  Page  201,   Succ.   49b. 

(180)  Page  201,  A.  Harnack,  What  is  Christianity,  Lect. 
IV. 

(181)  Page  202,  Deut.  R.   5:1. 

(182)  Page  202,  Prov.  21:3. 

(183)  Page  202,  Deut.  R.  1:5. 

(184)  Page  202,  Deut.  R.  21:3. 

(185)  Page  202,  Deut.  R.   5:3. 

(186)  Page  202,  Mid.  Koh.  R.  9:2. 

(187)  Page  202,  Mid.  Ruth  R.  7:5. 

(188)  Page  203,  Ex.  R.  26:2. 

(189)  Page  203,  Sabb.  31a. 

(190)  Page  204,  Ezek.   18:9. 

(191)  Page  205,  Prov.  10:2;  Tob.  4:10;  12:9. 

(192)  Page  206,   Ben  Sir.   7:32-33. 

(193)  Page  206,  Ben  Sir.   29:1-2. 

(194)  Page  206,  Tob.  2:2. 

(195)  Page  207,  Tob.  4:10;  12:9. 

(196)  Page  207,  Zeb.  5:1;  6:4-6. 

(197)  Page  207,  Zeb.  7:1-4. 

(198)  Page  208,   Gen.   R.   33:4. 

(199)  Page  208,   Succ.   49b. 

(200)  Page  Gen.  R.  24:9. 

(201)  Page  208,  B.  B.  9b. 

(202)  Page  208,  Succ.  49b. 

(203)  Page  208,  B.  B.   19a. 

(204)  Page  209,  Keth.  68b. 

(205)  Page  209,  Derech  Eretz  Zuta  9. 

(206)  Page  209,  Tana  d'be  Elijah  26. 

(207)  Page  210,  Tob.   4:5;   7:9. 

(208)  Page  211,  Peah  1:1. 

(209)  Page  211,  Ex.  20:22,  Cf.  Mechilta  to  passage. 

(210)  Page  212;  Mic.  4:1-4;  Cf.  Isa.  2:2-4. 

(211)  Page  213,  Mic.  4:4. 

(212)  Page  213,  Matt.  10:34ff;  Luke  12:49ff;  Luke  23:36. 

(213)  Page  215,  Isa.  32:16-18. 

(214)  Page  216,  Isa.  11:1-7. 


NOTES  279 


(215)  Page  217,  Ben  Sir.  1:18. 

(216)  Page  217,  Ben  Sir.   47:14-18. 

(217)  Page  217,  Ben  Sir.  50:23-24. 

(218)  Page  217,  Enoch  11:2. 

(219)  Page  218,  Enoch  5:9. 

(220)  Page  218,  Test.  Levi,  18:4. 

(221)  Page  218,  Dan,  5:13. 

(222)  Page  219,  Dan,  5:13. 

(223)  Page  219,  Jub.  31:20. 

(224)  Page  220,  Luke  19:17. 

(225)  Page  220,  Mark  16:16. 

(226)  Page  220,  John  14:27. 

(227)  Page  220,  Luke  1:19. 

(228)  Page  220,  Luke  2:14. 

(229)  Page  221,  PA.,  1:12. 

(230)  Page  221,  Sanh.  6b. 

(231)  Page  221,  Sabb.  lOb. 

(232)  Page  221,  Ber.  39b. 

(233)  Page  221,  Gitt.  59b. 

(234)  Page  221,  PA.,  1:18. 

(235)  Page  221,  Peah.  1:1. 

(236)  Page  222,  Ber.  74. 

(237)  Page  222,  Uktsin  3a. 

(238)  Page  222,  Yoma  9b. 

(239)  Page  222,  Ber.  17a. 

(240)  Page  222,  AdRN.,  33. 

(241)  Page  223,  Yeb.  65b. 

(242)  Page  223,  Gitt.  61a.  The  literal  translation  of  this 
remarkable  passage  is  as  follows:  The  rabbis  taught:  We 
should  assist  the  non- Jewish  poor  with  the  Jewish  poor; 
we  should  visit  the  sick  of  the  non-Jews  with  the  sick  of 
Israel;  we  should  bury  the  non- Jewish  dead  with  the  Jew- 
ish dead,  because  of  the  ways  of  (for  the  sake  of)  peace. 

(243)  Page  223,  Ber.  16a. 

(244)  Page  223,   Singer's  P.   B.,   p  76  and  other  places; 
Union  P.  B.  p  50  and  other  places. 

(245)  Page  223,  Einhorn's  P.  B.  Dr.  E.  G.  Hirsch,  trans- 
lator, p  34,  and  other  places. 

NOTES   ON    CHAPTER   V. 

(1)  Page  226,  A  number  of  papers  and  essays  about 
Jesus  have  been  written  by  Jews.  The  best  of  these  Is 
"Crucifixion  of  Jesus  from  the  Jewish  Point  of  View,"  by 
Dr.  Emil  G.  Hirsch  of  Chicago.  Another  writer  who  has 
dealt  with  this  subject  is  Mr.  Claude  Montefiore,  in  his 
"Religious  Teachings  of  Jesus;"  and  also  Joseph  Kraus- 
kopf,  "Jesus,  God  or  Man." 


280  NOTES 


(2)  Page  226,  Art.  Jesus,  JE,  Vol.  8. 

(3)  Page  227,  PA.,  1:12. 

(4)  Page  228,  Cf.  R.  H.  Charles,  Estchatology,  Chap.  5, 
p  211ff;  also  J.  H.  Greenstone,  The  Messiah  Idea  in  Jew- 
ish History,  p  67. 

(5)  Page  228,  Psalms  of  Sol.   17:23-25. 

(6)  Page  229,  Sib.  Bks.  Book  ili:l:  702-10. 

(7)  Page  230,  Cf.  Charles,  Apoc.  &  Pseud.;  also  his  Es- 
chatology,  Hebrew,   Jewish  and  Christian;   James  Drum- 
mond,  the  Jewish  Messiah;   J.   H.   Greenstone,   The  Mes- 
siah Idea  in  Jewish   History;   H.   Graetz,   History  of  the 
Jews,  Vol.  II;  Art.  Messiah,  JE.,  Vol.  8. 

(8)  Page  231,  The  Article  Messias,  in  Hamburger  Real 
Encyclopedia   for   Bible   and   Talmud   is  a   splendid   sum- 
mary of  the  Jewish  thought  and  belief  on  this  subject. 

(9)  Page  232,   Cf.   Josephus'  Jewish  Wars,  Book  II;   H. 
Graetz,  History  of  the  Jews,  Vol.  II,  Chap.  1:4;  E.  Schur- 
er,  History  of  the  Jewish  People,  First  Div.  Vol.  II. 

(10)  Page  236,  First  Chron.  22:6. 

(11)  Page  238,  Cf.  Art.  Pseudo.  Messiah,  JE. 

(12)  Page   239,    See   W.    Bousset,     Jesus,     Chap.     1;     P. 
Wernle,  Sources  of  Our  Knowledge  of  the  Life  of  Jesus. 

(13)  Page  249,  ERE,  Vol.  Ill,  p  838;  W.  A.  Curtis,  His- 
tory of  Creeds  and  Confessions,  pp  64,  70,  109-134. 

(14)  Page  252,  Prof.  Max  Margolis,  Theological  Aspects 
of  Reform  Judaism,  p  36. 

(15)  Page  252,  Prof.  Schechter,  Aspects,  p  45. 

(16)  Page  254,  Cf.  Isa.  7:14. 

(17)  Page  255,  Matt.  1:18;  Luke  2:5. 

(18)  Page  256,  Eccles.   7:20. 

(19)  Page  257,  Matt.  8:30ff;  Mark  5:llff. 

(20)  Page  258,  Matt.  21:12;  Mark  11:15. 

(21)  Page  258,  Matt.   10:14ff;   25:41ff;   Mark  16:16;   Luk« 
19:27;    and    the    various    anti-Pharisaic    passages.      Also 
John  2:1  and  Matt.  12:46ff. 

(22)  Page  258,  Matt.  21:18-19;  Mark  ll:12ff. 

(23)  Page  259,  H.  Graetz,  History  of  the  Jews,  Vol.  II, 
p  97ff. 

(24)  Page  262,  Matt.   23;   and  similar  passages  in  other 
Gospels. 

(25)  Page  262,  Matt.   8:22;  Matt.   10:35ff. 

(26)  Page  262,  Matt.  8:22;  Luke  9:60. 

(27)  Page  262,  Matt.  10:5-6. 

(28)  Page  263,  Matt.  15:21ff;  Mark  T:26ff. 

(29)  Page  264,  Dr.  K.  Kohler,  Jewish  Theology,  p  90. 


INDEX 


Abba   Shaul,   69. 

Abraham  Lincoln,  15,  27. 

Abtalyon,  68. 

Acts,   36  ff. 

Ahikar,  23. 

Akiba,  49ff,   130,  151. 

Akiba    ben    Mahalel,    65. 

Alexander,  232. 

Amos,  66,  169. 

Antiochus  Epiphanes,  228. 

Antigonus,  234. 

Apollos,  40. 

Apocalyptic  Literature,  77. 

Apocalypse  of  Baruch,  197. 

Apocalypse  of  John,  42ff. 

Apocrypha,  15,  literature  of,  77. 

Apostolic  Creed,  248. 

Apostles,   18. 

Archelaus,    236. 

Aristion,  40. 

Aristobulus,   232ff. 

Asher,  Testament  of,  113. 

Ascension  of  Isaiah,  23. 

Assumption   of   Moses,    77. 

B 

Bar  Cochba,  243. 

Barnabas,  40. 

Ben  Azzai,   161. 

Ben  Sirach,  194,  206,  217. 

Ben  Zoma,   74. 

Benjamin,  Testament  of,  116. 

Bible,     text     altered     by     early 

Christians,    23. 
Bousset,  Prof.,  263. 
Brotherhood  of  Man,   138. 
Brotherly    Love,    138 ;    a   Jewish 

characteristic,   152. 


Canaan,    early   life,   69. 

Caesar,  Julius,  233. 

Central  Powers,  violate  every 
rule  of  civilized  warfare,  147. 

Charity,   204ff. 

Charles,   Prof.   R.   H.,   198. 

Christian,  sources  dealt  with 
carelessly  by  later  writers,  26. 

Christianity,  14 ;  built  on  sandy 
foundation,  45 ;  misjudges 
Pharisaic  rabbis,  57  ;  could  not 
influence  Jews,  134. 

Christians,  have  a  duty  of  erad- 
icating prejudice,  147. 

Clement  of  Rome,  40. 

Colossians,  39. 

Corinthians,  38. 


Dan,  Testament  of,  100. 
Daniel,   228ff. 
Day  of  Atonement,  63. 
Drews.  A.,  407. 


Ecclesiastlcus,  Book  of,  84. 

Eldad  and  Medad,  Book  of,  23. 

Eli,   Rav,   222. 

Eliezer,  70,  71,  208,  222. 

Elozer,  152,  208. 

Enoch,  Book  of,  22,  77,  193,  217. 

Ephesians,  38. 

Essenes,    54. 

Eusebius,  206. 

Ezekiel,  66,  182,   183,  204. 

F 

Fatherhood  of  God,  122ff;  uni- 
versality of,  125;  in  later  lit- 
erature, 129 ;  in  Talmud  and 
Midrash  ,  131ff ;  In  Jewish 
Prayer  Book,  137. 

Flakes  of  Ecclesiastics,  23. 


Gad,  Testament  of,  112,  196. 

Galileans,  240ff. 

Galatians,  38. 

Gamaliel,  the  Elder,  55. 

Gamaliel,  Simon  ben,  55,  61,  64, 
221. 

Gettysburg:,  address,  15. 

God,  as  Father,  132 ;  as  merciful 
and  compassionate,  133 ;  His 
universality,  125 ;  cannot  be- 
come man  nor  be  compared  to 
anyone,  2  5  Off ;  a  God  of  Holi- 
ness, 189  ;  under  various  names 
among  pious,  134  ;  Jewish  con- 
ception of  Fatherhood  of, 
122ff ;  true  worship  of,  174. 

Golden  Rule,  203. 

Gospel  of  John,  33ff. 

Gospel  of  Luke.  32ff. 

Gospel  of  Mark,  28,  SOff. 

Gospel  of  Matthew,  29ff. 

Gospels,  Synoptic,  21 ;  conflicts 
in,  29. 

Grmetz,  Prof.  F.,  259. 


Harnack,  Prof.  A.,   133,  201. 
Hebrews,  Epistles  to,  39. 
Herford.  E.  T.,  119f. 
Herod,  234ff. 
Hezekiah,  the  Zealot,  240. 


282 


INDEX 


Hillel,  48,  50,  55,  64,  142,  259. 
Hirsch,  Dr.  E.  G.,  note  to,  p.  226. 
Hiyya,  59. 
Holy  Land,  to  be  the  seat  of  a 

holy  nation,   231. 
Honi,  130. 
Hosea,    63,    66. 
Hyrcanus,  John,  100. 
Hyrcanus,  232ff. 


Ideal  Man,  255ff. 
Immaculate  Conception,  254. 
Individual  Righteousness,  177ff. 
Isaiah,  66,  173,  212,  215. 
Ishmael,   64.      . 
Israel,  sonship  of  God,  129,  135 ; 

its   early  history,   161ff. 
Issachar,  Testament  of,  107,  149, 

196. 


James,  40. 

Jamnia,   52. 

Jannai,  70. 

Jeremiah,  66,  169,  177,  183. 

Jerusalem,   25,  33. 

Jesus,  as  alleged  source  of  mod- 
ern ideals,  13ff ;  never  wrote 
New  Testament,  15ff,  17,  18, 
19 ;  not  antagonistic  to  Jews, 
30 ;  sources  of  his  life  ques- 
tionable, 44ff;  lives  and  dies 
a  Jew,  46 ;  method  of  teaching, 
57,  62ff ;  on  righteousness,  73; 
influence  of  Old  Testament  on 
him,  118 ;  his  conception  of 
Fatherhood  made  narrow, 
^124ff,  134;  attitude  of  liberal 
Jews  towards,  227 ;  as  the 
Messiah,  227;  as  the  Son  of 
God,  227 ;  as  Perfect  and  Sin- 
less man,  227 ;  his  work, 
239ff ;  messianic  pretensions 
not  fulfilled,  246 ;  not  perfect, 
256 ;  as  a  human  teacher,  258 ; 
not  a  prophet,  260 ;  a  purely 
upstriving  human  teacher,  261 ; 
lack  of  political  insight,  261; 
attitude  towards  Gentiles,  262. 

Jewish  sources,  difficult  to  get 
at,  119. 

Jews,  life  larger  than  Bible,  53 ; 
ought  to  be  charitable,  153 ; 
contributions  prove  value  of 
their  teachings,  154  :  their  po- 
liitcal  condition  in  Judea,  231 ; 
cannot  accept  the  Christ  of 
the  Church,  255 ;  attitude  to- 
wards Jesus,  263. 

Jochai,   181. 

Jochanan,  131. 


Jochanan  ben  Zakkai,  55,  60, 
63,  130,  135,  154,  222. 

John   I,   42. 

John  II,  42. 

John,  the  Apostle,  42. 

John,  of  Giscala,  240. 

John,   the  Presbyter,  26,   35,   43. 

Joseph,  Testament  of,  114. 

Jose  ben   Jochanan,   62. 

Josephus,  23. 

Joshua,  208. 

Joshua  ben  Levi,  131. 

Joshua  ben  Korcho,   70. 

Jubilees,  23,  48,  77,  95,  129,  195, 
218. 

Judah,  Testament  of,  105. 

Judah  ben  Temah,   131. 

Judah,    rabbi,   253. 

Judaism,  14  ;  authoritative  source 
for  religion,  19 ;  sources  not 
studied  by  non-Jews,  50ff ;  a 
progressive  religion  and  does 
not  cease  with  O.  T.,  54 ;  pro- 
tests against  unethical  civili- 
zation, 175 ;  ignored  by  Chris- 
tian scholars,  191 ;  righteous- 
ness and  spirituality  its  true 
basis,  199 ;  takes  no  official 
notice  of  Jesus,  226 ;  a  pure 
ethical  monotheism,  2  5  Iff. 

Jude,    42. 

Judea,  political  condition  of,  232. 

Judgment,  Jewish  idea  of,  64,  67. 

Judith,  23,  75. 

Justice,  social,   157. 


Karaites,   54. 

Kohler,  Prof.  K.,  264. 

L 

Lazarus,   Prof.  M.,   156. 
Levi,  Testament  of,  103. 
Leviticus,  49,  138. 
Lincoln,  A.,  15,  27. 
Logia,  27. 
Logos,    33. 
Love,     commandment,    48,     138 ; 

universality    of    law,    139 ;    in 

N.  T.,   142. 
Luke,   25,   26,  220. 

M 

Maccabees,  Second,  23. 

Man,  Brotherhood  of,  138. 

Man  of  Nazareth,  13. 

Marcion,   falsifies   gospel,   24. 

Mary,   255. 

Mark,    25,    26,   220. 

Mathean  Logia,  28. 

Matthew,  25,  26,  49. 

Men  of  the  Great  Synagogue,  64. 

Mercy,    70. 


INDEX 


283 


Messianic  Ideals,  among  the 
Jews,  228;  not  fulfilled  by 
Jesus,  247. 

Micah,  66,   140.  171,  212. 

Midrashic  sources,  119. 

Midrash,  15,  65,  76;  on  right- 
eousness, 200. 

Mishnah,  15,  94,  119. 

Midrash  Kabbah,  60. 

Moffatt,   Prof.,   26. 

Monotheism,  250. 

Moses,  68,  71,  150. 

Moses,  Assumption  of,   23,  77. 

N 

Napthali,  Testament  of.  111. 
Nain,  34. 
New  Testament,  13ff,  17,  19,  20, 

21,   22,   44 ;   influence  of   other 

books  on  it,  78  ;  on  love,   141 ; 

on  peace  and  war,  220. 
Nicene  Creed,  248. 
Non-Jews,    held   in    high   esteem 

if  righteous,  137. 


Old  Testament,  19,  20;  Father- 
hood of  God  in,  125ff ;  on 
brotherly  love,  138ff. 


Papias,   26,   27. 

Parables,  in  common  use  among 
rabbis,  59. 

Paul,  17,  24  ;  correspondence,  87, 
187. 

Peace,    211. 

Peter,   27. 

Peter,  Epistles  of,  41. 

Pharisees,  30,  50,  53ff,  64ff,  67. 
119,  152. 

Philemon,  39. 

Philip  of  Caesarea,  40. 

Philo,   23. 

Pontius   Pilate,    237ff,    246. 

Pompey,   232. 

Prayer  Book,  223. 

Prophets,  protest  against  ma- 
terialism and  unrighteousness, 
168ff  ;  their  ideals,  174ff. 

Proverbs,  50,  202. 

Prince,  of  peace,   213. 

Psalms,    66,    185ff. 

Pumbaditha,  52. 
R 

Rabbis,  decisions,  53,  61,  68,  75 ; 
their  finer  characteristics, 
148ff. 

Rav  Assi,  70,  201. 

Rav  Eli,   222. 

Rav  Safro,  223. 


Renan,  E.,  47. 
Resh  Lakesh,  70,   151. 
Reuben,  Testament  of,  101. 
Righteousness,    72ff,    17 Iff,    179, 

200ff. 

Romans,    38. 
Rome,  232,  244ff. 

8 

Sabbath,   51,  64. 

Sadducees,   53. 

Samuel  bar  Nehemiah,  150. 

Samuel  ben  Nechemia,  208. 

Schechter,     Prof.     S.,     121.     134, 

252. 

Scribes,  50. 
Shammai,   55. 

Shamaiah  ben  Abtalyon,  222. 
Silas,    40. 
Sylvanus,  40. 
Simon  ben  Shetach,  58. 
Simon  ben  Gamaliel,  55,   61,  64, 

221. 

Simon  ben  Lakish,  69. 
Simon  the  Just,  62. 
Simlai,  69. 

Simeon,  Testament  of,   102. 
Simon  ben  Chalafta,  222. 
Smith.  W.  B.,  47. 
Strauss,  D.  F.,  47. 
Social    Justice,    157. 
Sura,  52. 

Sybilline  Books,  230. 
Synoptic  Gospels,  compiled  from 

other  sources,  25. 


Talmud,  15,  63,  76,  119,  200ff. 
221ff. 

Talmudic,  references  on  love, 
150ff. 

Taylor,   Prof.  C.,   52. 

Testament  of  Job,  23,  77. 

Testaments  of  the  Twelve  Pa- 
triarchs, 23,  48,  77,  101,  149, 
196,  218. 

Thessalonians,  38. 

Timothy,   39. 

Titus,  39. 

Tobit,  Book  of,  23.  77,  149,  192, 
210. 

The  Torah,  67. 

The  Law,  62. 

The  Lawgiver,  67. 

U 

Ur-Marcus,   28,  32,  37. 
Universality  of  Jewish  command* 

ment  of  love,  139ff. 
Unity  of  God,  248ff. 


284 


INDEX 


Washington,   George,   15. 
Weber,   M.,   120. 
Wendt,  Prof.  H.,  155. 
Wisdom  of  Solomon,  23,  77,  90, 

194. 
Worship,  meaning  of,  171. 


STahveh,  meaning  of  worship  of, 

171. 

Yehudah,   152. 
Yitschak,   70. 


Zebulun,  Testament  of,  109,  207. 
Zechariah,  66,  217. 


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